Talk:Cheddar cheese

Statistics

Many of the statistics quoted in this article are at least 10-15 years out of date and require contextualisation or refreshing. Assistance welcomed. Atomix330 (talk) 01:19, 29 January 2023 (UTC)

Henry II again

I see this has been discussed in the archive before, but the source for cheddar being bought by Henry II in 1170 is a great example of citogenesis - the statement was added by Gritchka (talk · contribs) in 2002, without a source, and the website that is currently given as a source in this article dates from 2009. Obviously they got the info from Wikipedia in the first place. Gritchka is long gone so we can't ask them to elaborate, but there is a nugget of truth in here. I tracked it down to the Pipe Roll for year 17 of Henry's reign (December 19, 1170-December 18, 1171), which notes that Alured of Lincoln bought 40 weys of cheese from his lands in Somerset and Dorset to help supply the invasion of Ireland. If a wey was 256 pounds, that would equal 10,240 pounds of cheese, but we don't really know how much a wey was in Somerset/Dorset in 1171. It's also not called "cheddar" in the Pipe Roll but since Cheddar is in Somerset everyone seems to assume it was, even though the cheese could have come from Alured's estates in Dorset, not Somerset. I see lots of other bizarre claims and misunderstandings in recent books (that it was Henry's favourite cheese, he declared it the best cheese in England, he had this load of cheese sent to London, he demanded that all his subjects eat it, etc etc), presumably these all ultimately stem from this article as well. I'm not sure how to fix this in the article but I'm sure the statement can simply be deleted entirely, now that it's done its damage over the past 20 years. Adam Bishop (talk) 18:21, 31 January 2023 (UTC)

Anyway I removed the whole paragraph. The source for Charles I was also a quote from this article. The "French writers" source was just one book about cheeses of the world that makes a pretty random and unsubstantiated claim. Adam Bishop (talk) 17:12, 1 February 2023 (UTC)

After digging a little more, it's probably not citogenesis - the Cheddar Gorge Cheese Company website that was cited as a source actually had that information all the way back in 2001 at least, and was probably Gritchka's source. But the rest of what I wrote still applies... Adam Bishop (talk) 13:12, 22 August 2023 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 9 February 2023

Please update Aging Time description from: Aging time 3–24 months

To: Aging time 3 months- 72 months

Or: Aging time 3 months-15+ years

Whatever format or parameter is approved all of the above statements are true i simply wish that others know how much character & age phenomenal cheddars have. Evidence of these claims is available via local supermarket or internet purchase. Lactate crystals form around Year 5 & solidify around 7.

Thank you for your consideration, 96.37.27.85 (talk) 02:52, 9 February 2023 (UTC)

 Not done: please provide reliable sources that support the change you want to be made. Lightoil (talk) 02:14, 22 February 2023 (UTC)