Wedginald was a 20 kilogram wheel of English cheddar cheese, made famous in 2007 when its producers broadcast its maturation process on the internet. [1] The livestream went viral receiving national and international attention.
Weginald was produced by Westcountry Farmhouse Cheesemakers of Westcombe Dairy, Evercreech, near Shepton Mallet, Somerset. [2] [3] The company set up a website, humorously titled Cheddarvision that livestreamed the cheese's maturation. The name "Wedginald" was arrived at after a naming contest on the site as a humourous portmanteau of "wedge" (as in a wedge of cheese) and the given name Reginald. [4]
Initially only an internet phenomenon of limited scope, the website soon received attention from major UK media outlets such as the BBC (where Weginald was discussed during Middlesex and Surrey county cricket broadcasts on BBC London) and national newspapers like The Times and The Independent . Weginald also drew global attention, from newspapers as far away as Norway, and throughout the spring of 2007, featured in American media, with regular updates on The Tony Kornheiser Radio Show. [1] [5] [6]
Over the cheese's 9 month maturation, more than 1.5 million people logged on to watch it. [7] [8]
A time-lapse video on YouTube [9] attracted several hundred thousand page views, and the cheese gained over 1,300 friends on MySpace. [6]
On 19 September 2007, nine months into the cheese's maturation, the first sample was taken from the wheel by Tom Calver, its creator, to determine the cheese's quality at that point. Experts stressed that this was a critical period in the maturation process, that would determine whether Weginald would be fit for human consumption or not. [10] According to Calver, at this point, Weginald had "a caramel nose, a sweet twiggy greenness and a creamy good length of flavour...lemony, with a certain 'spritziness'". [5]
Calver claimed that the company never expected Weginald to go viral. [1] He insisted that the seemingly frivolous gimmick of broadcasting Weginald's maturation had a serious purpose: to educate the population on the art of cheesemaking and to remind consumers of the amount of effort that goes into the production of gourmet food at a time when there is increasing detachment between consumers and producers. [5]
Weginald was sold in an online auction on eBay, on 19 November 2007, achieving a final sale price of £1,145 with the proceeds going to the BBC charity Children in Need. [11] The auction attracted a total of 36 bids with nearly 200 people watching Wedginald online as the auction closed. The winner was a former resident of the Somerset village of Chew Magna, who had migrated to New Zealand as an architect, and subsequently became involved in the wine industry.
Wedginald remained online for viewing on the official website until 19 December 2007. The cheese arrived in New Zealand on 22 December 2007, and was likely subsequently eaten.
Calver is still producing cheese at the Westcombe Dairy as of 2023. [12]
Cheddar is a large village and civil parish in the Sedgemoor district of the English county of Somerset. It is situated on the southern edge of the Mendip Hills, 9 miles (14 km) north-west of Wells, 11 miles (18 km) south-east of Weston-super-Mare and 18 miles (29 km) south-west of Bristol. The civil parish includes the hamlets of Nyland and Bradley Cross. The parish had a population of 5,755 in 2011 and an acreage of 8,592 acres (3,477 ha) as of 1961.
Cheddar cheese is a natural cheese that is relatively hard, off-white, and sometimes sharp-tasting. Cheddar originates from the English village of Cheddar in Somerset.
Pizza cheese encompasses several varieties and types of cheeses and dairy products that are designed and manufactured for use specifically on pizza. These include processed and modified cheese such as mozzarella-like processed cheeses and mozzarella variants. The term can also refer to any type of cheese suitable for use on pizza. The most popular cheeses used in the preparation of pizza are mozzarella, provolone, cheddar and Parmesan. Emmental, Romano and ricotta are often used as toppings, and processed pizza cheeses manufactured specifically for pizza are mass-produced. Some mass-produced pizza cheeses are frozen after manufacturing and shipped frozen.
Caerphilly is a hard, crumbly white cheese that originated in the area around the town of Caerphilly, Wales. It is thought to have been created to provide food for the local coal miners. The Caerphilly of that period had a greater moisture content, and was made in local farms. At the start of the 20th century, competition for milk in the local area saw production decline, and Caerphilly production was gradually relocated to England.
Processed cheese is a food product made from cheese and unfermented dairy ingredients mixed with emulsifiers. Additional ingredients, such as vegetable oils, salt, food coloring, or sugar may be included. As a result, many flavors, colors, and textures of processed cheese exist. Processed cheese typically contains around 50 to 60% traditional cheese.
Colby is a semi-hard orange cheese made from cow's milk. It is named after the city of Colby, Wisconsin, US, where it was first developed in 1885 and quickly became popular.
Cheesemaking is the craft of making cheese. The production of cheese, like many other food preservation processes, allows the nutritional and economic value of a food material, in this case milk, to be preserved in concentrated form. Cheesemaking allows the production of the cheese with diverse flavors and consistencies.
Maytag Dairy Farms, based in Newton, Iowa USA ,is a manufacturer of blue cheese and other food products.
Saputo Dairy UK Limited is a holding company for Dairy Crest Limited, a British dairy products company. It was created in 2019 when the Canadian company Saputo Inc bought Dairy Crest. Dairy Crest itself was created in 1981 as a spin-off of the Milk Marketing Board. Its brands include Saputo Dairy UK, Cathedral City Cheddar Cheese, Country Life Butter, Utterly Butterly, Vitalite and Clover.
Cheer, formerly marketed as Coon, is the Australian trademark of a cheddar cheese produced by the Warrnambool Cheese and Butter company, which is majority-owned by Canadian dairy company Saputo Inc.
The manufacture of Cheddar cheese includes the process of cheddaring, which makes this cheese unique. Cheddar cheese is named for the village of Cheddar in Somerset in South West England where it was originally manufactured. The manufacturing of this cheese has since spread around the world and thus the name has become generically known.
Pilgrims Choice is a cheese brand owned by Irish dairy exporter Ornua, with UK operations based in Leek, Staffordshire.
Joseph Harding was responsible for the introduction of modern cheese making techniques and has been described as the "father of Cheddar cheese". He is credited with having invented the "definite formula" for the production of cheddar cheese.
Cathedral City is a brand of Cheddar cheese which is manufactured by Saputo Dairy UK in Cornwall in the United Kingdom. Cathedral City's brand and logo is based on Wells Cathedral in Somerset.
Cheese ripening, alternatively cheese maturation or affinage, is a process in cheesemaking. It is responsible for the distinct flavour of cheese, and through the modification of "ripening agents", determines the features that define many different varieties of cheeses, such as taste, texture, and body. The process is "characterized by a series of complex physical, chemical and microbiological changes" that incorporates the agents of "bacteria and enzymes of the milk, lactic culture, rennet, lipases, added moulds or yeasts, and environmental contaminants". The majority of cheese is ripened, except for fresh cheese.
Vegan cheese is a category of non-dairy, plant-based cheese analogues. Vegan cheeses range from soft fresh cheeses to aged and cultured hard grateable cheeses like plant-based Parmesan. The defining characteristic of vegan cheese is the exclusion of all animal products.
Wyke Farms is a producer of cheese and butter in Somerset. Wyke Farms is the largest independent producer of cheese within the United Kingdom.
Dora Glover Saker was an instructor in cheese-making for Somerset County Council. The rediscovery of her book, Practical Cheddar Cheese-making (1917), by cheese-makers in the twenty-first century has been credited with inspiring a revival of interest in historic cheese-making methods and to have "quickly acquired cult status amongst farmhouse cheese-makers".