Do you know the history of Cheeseballs?

It seems like there’s a “National Day of Everything” now. So, it’s no surprise (well it was to us) that there is actually a National Cheeseball Day (it happens April 17^th FYI). It falls 2 days after your Income Tax is due which may explain it – it might be all you can afford to eat after parting with your annual “amount due”!

Once considered the black sheep of the cheese family, cheese balls have made their comeback as a playful party snack. Soft cheese is molded into a ball shape and adorned with different seeds, nuts or dried fruit – our favorite “exterior coating” is always buttery, delicious pecans of course! Sweet or savory, the options are never ending.

The background of cheeseballs starts at an unusual point in history–when the first cheese ball appeared at, perhaps one of the most unexpected of places, the White House. In the early 1800s, there was a farmer by the name of Elisha Brown, Jr. who was seeking to present an unusual gift to then President of the United States, Thomas Jefferson. So, it was this desire that allowed an unbelievably massive ball of cheese to wind up on the White House lawn. How massive? 1,235 pounds to be exact! Now that is a huge ball of cheese. It’s a little wonder that it eventually became known as “The Mammoth Cheese”.

From that point, the cheese ball seemed to have disappeared into culinary history for nearly 150 years. It then had the good fortune to resurface in 1944 in a book by Virginia Safford called Food of My Friends. In this book, a recipe was included for the Cheese Ball, and it wasn’t long after that it found itself a staple of cuisine.

Can it truly be considered a cuisine, though? Well, that description does seem to require that there is more than one variation, doesn’t it? And the experience of most people, is that they have probably only seen the variety that’s rolled in toasted almonds (well – not us – we ONLY use pecans). Believe it or not, though, there are hundreds of varieties of cheese balls available for every imaginable occasion!

Cheeseballs can be made of almost any kind of cheese, and then rolled in almost anything that can be imagined! Perhaps there isn’t even an “almost” to be said here. Some people have made cheese balls rolled in diced onions, peppers, herbs, and garlic…but pecans are still our favorite.

Getting creative and exploring new tastes, while also offering a nod to the classics, is what celebrating the historic Cheese Ball is all about! If you’re looking for a fun cocktail party item to serve at holiday gatherings, here are a few of our favorites. Order Better Halves Natural Pecan Pieces to roll those babies to delicious perfection!

Do you know the history of Cheeseballs?