British colonists made cheddar cheese soon after their arrival in North America. By 1790, American-made cheddars were being exported back to England. According to Robert Carlton Brown, author of The Complete Book of Cheese, what was known in America as yellow cheese or store cheese was known as American cheddar or Yankee cheddar back in England."The English called our imitation Yankee, or American, Cheddar, while here at home it was popularly known as yellow or store cheese". Robert Carlton Brown, The Complete Book of Cheese (New York: Programmer Publishing Company, 1955). Republished in 2006: "Bob" Brown, The Complete Book of Cheese (Echo Library, 2006). The Oxford English Dictionary lists the first known usage of "American cheese" as occurring in the Frankfort, Kentucky, newspaper The Guardian of Freedom in 1804.
