French President Charles De Gaulle once famously asked "How can anyone govern a nation that has two hundred and forty-six different kinds of cheese?"
Based on that statement, my middle school son & I once went to the local big supermarket and counted the different varieties of cheddar. Different shapes or sizes didn't count, but different add-ins did - cheddar with sage, cheddar with jalapeno, etc. Different companies count; also mild, sharp, extra sharp, etc all count.
I don't remember the exact number, but we came up with well over 30 kinds of cheddar in one supermarket in the northeast. Besed on that, I'm guessing that the US produces over 246 different varieties of cheddar. Does that make us easier to govern or more difficult??
BTW, France has somewhere near 400 named cheeses now; far more if you count local varieties as different.
Sharp white cheddar, mild orange cheddar, sharp orange cheddar, extra sharp Tillamook cheddar (a few of the cheddars are shredded), whole milk mozzarella, mild chevre (it says mild goat on the label but we know) 12 month aged Gouda, Parmigiano Reggiano.
P.S. We're all out of Bree - thanks for bringing that to my attention!!
