The World-Famous Mammoth Cheese of Ingersoll

A cheese so famous it went on tour

In the 1850s, the area of Ingersoll, Ontario began to get into the dairy business and they quickly discovered that cheese-making was very good business.

In an effort to promote the area’s cheese-making industry, the decision was made to produce a cheddar style of cheese in the country.

The hope was to introduce it to the English, and open up a new market over the Atlantic.

To get the English interested in their cheese, the various cheese factories in the area began to work together to create a mammoth-sized cheese.

The cheese was huge. It weighed in at 7,300 pounds and was seven feet in diameter and three feet thick. It was created that year at the James Harris Cheese Factory. In order to make the cheese, milk from 2,400 cows on 250 area farms was used to produce 35 tons of milk that was used to make the cheese.

The cheese was built to pay tribute to the growth of the dairy and cheese industry in the county and Ingersoll.

For three months, the cheese was aged and cured and then on Aug. 23, 1866, the massive block of cheese was paraded through the streets of Ingersoll to the train station on its way to be displayed in the United States.

This was a big event for the community. The Ottawa Daily Citizen reported quote:

“It was drawn from the station by 12 horses, accompanied by a band of music and many of the town people. Speeches were made and a general good time was had over the mammoth cheese of which the people of Ingersoll have every reason to feel proud.”

The cheese then travelled to the State Fair in Saratoga, New York. At the fair, it was visited by thousands of people. Many asked to buy it, with one person offering $6,000, or $106,000 today, but this offer was refused.

After this, it was showcased across England and Europe.

The Ingersoll Chronicle would write quote:

“The mammoth was tested and found to be excellent flavor. This is probably the last we shall hear of the largest cheese ever manufactured.”

The tour was a massive success.

Everyone loved its flavour and texture and began to order more. In 1867, Ingersoll shipped out 300,000 boxes of 90 pound rounds of cheese to England alone.

The demand for cheese in Ingersoll and Oxford County skyrocketed and the number of cheese factories in the county rose from six in 1866 to 100 by 1900.