York, just over a century ago and, with Herkimer County Cheddar
already widely known, this established "New York" as the preferred
"store-boughten" cheese.

An account of New York's cheese business in the pioneer Wooden Nutmeg
Era is found in Ernest Elmo Calkins' interesting book, _They Broke the
Prairies_. A Yankee named Silvanus Ferris, "the most successful
dairyman of Herkimer County," in the first decades of the 1800's
teamed up with Robert Nesbit, "the old Quaker Cheese Buyer." They
bought from farmers in the region and sold in New York City. And
"according to the business ethics of the times," Nesbit went ahead to
cheapen the cheese offered by deprecating its quality, hinting at a
bad market and departing without buying. Later when Ferris arrived in
a more optimistic mood, offering a slightly better price, the seller,
unaware they were partners, and ignorant of the market price, snapped
up the offer.

Similar sharp-trade tactics put too much green cheese on the market,
so those honestly aged from a minimum of eight months up to two years
fetched higher prices. They were called "old," such as Old Herkimer,
Old Wisconsin Longhorn, and Old California Jack.

Although the established Cheddar ages are three, fresh, medium-cured,
and cured or aged, commercially they are divided into two and
described as mild and sharp. The most popular are named for their
states: Colorado, Illinois, Kentucky, New York, Ohio, Vermont and
Wisconsin. Two New York Staters are called and named separately, Coon
and Herkimer County. Tillamook goes by its own name with no mention of
Oregon. Pineapple, Monterey Jack and Sage are seldom listed as
Cheddars at all, although they are basically that.