Sel aastal sajandat sünnipäeva tähistav E-Piima Põltsamaa Meierei loodi 1910. aastal Põltsamaa Piimaühingu nime all. Ühistul on 260 liiget ning kokku varutakse piima üle 400 tootjalt. E-Piima Põltsamaa Meierei toodab aastas kuni 7000 tonni juustu. E-Piima Põltsamaa Meierei tuntumad tooted on Põltsamaa Eesti juust, Eesti Kuldne juust, Lepasuitsu Eesti juust, Saaremaa Valss, Estman, uus lastele mõeldud Miriami juust ja Harmony Südamejuust.

“Cheese is a high-fat, high-protein dairy product made when milk, cream, skimmed milk, buttermilk, goat’s milk, sheep’s milk or any combination thereof is soured and fermented or fungi, yeast or bacterial cultures added. Once the majority of the whey is removed, the cheese that remains is either eaten as is or left to ripen and eaten at different stages of maturity.” (Meyers Enzyklopädisches Lexikon, 1975)

A simpler explanation is given in the 1976 German cheese regulation: “The raw product or products at different stages of maturity produced from curdled milk suitable for cheese production shall be known as cheese.”

There is much debate as to how many different types of cheese are produced around the world. It has been suggested that there are more than 4000. The countries that produce the greatest variety of cheeses are France and Germany.

Sir Winston Churchill, Britain’s war-time Prime Minister, was famous for arguing about the variety of cheeses available. He felt that it would be impossible to govern a country in which there was such a broad selection. In fact there are around 250 sorts of cheese, including local variations. There are countries where cheese is seldom eaten, such as China, where the people have never been very big on dairy products.

Since we’re talking numbers, we can’t go without mentioning the world’s biggest cheeses. The first such ‘record’ dates back to 1840, when the British queen Victoria married the German prince Albert von Sachsen-Coburg-Gotha. British farmers used the milk from 780 cows to produce almost 500 kg of Cheddar cheese and presented it to the royal couple as a wedding present...after which they wanted to take their giant cheese with them and show it at exhibitions. However, the recipients were not willing to part with their gift. A court case then ensued. What happened to the cheese in the meantime, we will never know.

Good cheese has long been made and continues to be made today. The quality of a cheese depends on how it is made. What is important is experience, and how that experience is put into practice.