‘Cheese straws’ are meant to be eaten…not sipped through

Cheese straws are a uniquely Southern food that has a bit of a mysterious origin…one that gets better with age.

 

No one knows exactly who invented Southern cheese straws or when, but published recipes for the tasty snack-time delicacy can be traced back to 1887. 

A recipe for “Cayenne Cheese Straws” was cited by food writer John Martin Taylor, who grew up in South Carolina’s Lowcountry region. He came upon it when thumbing through “The White House Cookbook,” published in 1887 during the first term of President Grover Cleveland. 

The ingredients were flour, grated parmesan cheese, salt, cayenne pepper and an egg yolk. Roll out “to the thickness of a silver quarter, twist and lay on a baking-sheet slightly floured. Bake in a moderate oven until crisp, but they must not be the least brown….” 

Doug Mack of Minneapolis, Minn., who reports on the cultural history of snack foods, has his own theory about the origin of cheese straws. 

It was well-documented that President Cleveland, who weighed a portly 275 pounds, frequented local saloons around Washington, D.C., where the president would wash down a plate of cheese and crackers with a beer or two.

 

Happy Hour? This print advertisement features an illustration of beer-drinking opponents Benjamin Harrison (left) and Grover Cleveland, who faced off in the 1888 presidential election.

Mack suggested that “some genius,” perhaps the White House kitchen steward, “turned the concept of cheese and crackers into a cheesy cracker, then made them into straw-like strips, and here we are. Cheese straws.”

Doug Mack

Or, on the other hand, Mack said cheese straws may have been born in Murfreesboro, N.C., in Hertford County on the Meherrin River. He found a cheese straws recipe printed in the Murfreesboro newspaper, The Albemarle Enquirer (also in 1887). It called for flour, cream, grated cheese, butter, two egg yolks, salt, pepper, nutmeg, and milk. 

Directions were: “Roll out thin, cut into narrow strips, lay on buttered tin, bake to a pale yellow, serve hot or cold.”

 

A century later…in 1987 in Carteret County…a cheese straws recipe from Patsy Taylor appeared in the cookbook “Island Born and Bred,” compiled by the Harkers Island Methodist Women. Patsy Taylor’s “Cheese Bites” recipe specified using melted orange sharp cheddar cheese and suggested variations that added Rice Krispies or chopped pecans.

 

Another local cookbook titled “A Little Taste of Heaven Since 1857” was published in 2007 to celebrate the sesquicentennial anniversary of Morehead City. “Cheese Dreams” was the cheese straws recipe of Penelope Josephine “Nelle” Lazenby Geer, a prominent citizen who lived from 1892-1979. 

John Taylor said that he believes “cheese straws became so wildly popular in the South” out of necessity, due to the region’s hot and humid summer climate. His view is underscored by Liz Biro of Wilmington, N.C., a freelance writer who specializes in the food and beverage industry. 

“Hoop cheese, which may be the South’s best-known cheese, was once available by the hunk at country stores all along the North Carolina coast, but the unsalted, nutty, orange cheese spoils quickly,” Biro said. “Better to mix it into pastry that keeps for a week in an air-tight container.”

 

John Taylor’s parting thought is this: “The cheese straw…is solid enough to provide a good foil to alcohol, and its only drawback is its threat of crumbs falling to the carpet. But hey, as long as it’s not your house, who cares?”

 

Victoria Rumble of Florence, Ala., who has done a lot of research on cheese straws, said: “Occasionally, one finds instructions for presentation such as, ‘When served, the cheese straws should be piled log fashion on a plate.’”

 

Hmmm, the shape of cheese straws does somewhat resemble children’s “Lincoln logs.”