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The cheese ball doesn't date back quite as far as the actual Renaissance, a period that had pretty much wrapped up by the turn of the 17th century, but this retro appetizer has been around for a good long time. While some sources claim that the very first cheese ball was presented to Thomas Jefferson in 1801, the impressive (if impractical) gift received by our third president was just an enormous, circular block of cheese. It was more of a cheese wheel than a cheese ball.

The kind of cheese ball we're talking about here consists of a sphere of flavored cream cheese rolled in a garnish of some sort. The first recipe we're aware of was published in a 1944 cookbook called "Food of My Friends." This recipe collection was compiled by food writer Virginia Safford, but the cheese ball itself was attributed to one Mrs.



Selmber E. Ellertson. Cheese balls, like many other mid-century fads, came to be seen as a bit stodgy and outdated by the turn of the millennium, but we'd like to see them stage a revival as our century hits the quarter mark.

They're a party appetizer with prep work easy enough to outsource to a preschooler and sufficient customizability to allow you to add as many quick-pickled figs, caramelized shallots, or other au courant ingredients as your trendy little heart desires. Cheese balls have come a long way, baby The original cheese ball recipe from "Food of My Friends" was very fancy for the '40s — the cream cheese was mixed with blue cheese and flavored with and c.

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