🧑🤝🧑 Americans
Also known as: US Americans
Monterey Jack is a Californian cheese that goes back to the cheesemaking of 18th-century Spanish missions.
Americans are the people of the United States, a North American country shaped by settlers and Indigenous peoples. Dairy farming in the USA took shape with the arrival of European settlers, who brought cows and their own ways of making butter and cheese. Today milk, cheese and ice cream are everyday foods, and cheesemaking is well developed in many states, especially Wisconsin and California.
One of the cheeses born in America itself is Monterey Jack. According to a widespread version, its ancestor is a simple white cheese, queso del país, made at the Spanish missions of California in the 18th century. In the second half of the 19th century the landowner David Jacks began selling such cheese under his own name, and the name “Jack” stuck. The origin of the name and the recipe is still disputed: there are versions involving a “jack” press and other local cheesemakers.
Monterey Jack is a mild semi-hard cow’s milk cheese that melts well and is widely used in Mexican-American cooking.
What it includes
- Traditional products
How it connects to milk
🧑🤝🧑 Americans ← among ← 🧀 Monterey Jack → made from → 🥛 Cow's milk → type of → 🥛 Milk
Links
- Where they live
- 🌍 North America
- Traditional products
- 🧀 Monterey Jack
Frequently asked questions
Where does the name Monterey Jack come from?
It is most often linked to David Jacks, a 19th-century California landowner who sold the cheese under his own name; there are other versions too.
Who first made Monterey Jack?
Its ancestor is thought to be a white cheese of the 18th-century Spanish missions in California, but its exact origin has not been established.
Which US state is known for cheesemaking?
Wisconsin and California in particular.
Sources
- KQED — Move Over Monterey? Pacifica Lays Claim to Iconic Jack Cheese
- FAO — Gateway to dairy production and products: Dairy animals