“What type of cheese is made backwards?”/“Edam.”
Edam cheese is the subject of a classic joke:
“What type of cheese is made backwards?”
“Edam.”
The joke has been cited in print since at least 1939.
Wikipedia: Edam cheese
Edam (Dutch: Edammer, [ˈeɪ̯.ˌdɑ.mər]) is a semi-hard cheese that originated in the Netherlands, and is named after the town of Edam in the province of North Holland. Edam is traditionally sold in spheres with a pale yellow interior and a coat of red paraffin wax. Edam ages and travels well, and does not spoil; it only hardens. These qualities (among others) made it the world’s most popular cheese between the 14th and 18th centuries, both at sea and in remote colonies. A major producer of Edam is the FrieslandCampina company in Marum, The Netherlands. In the U.S., the May-bud brand is sold by the Churny Company, a subsidiary of Kraft Foods.
22 April 1939, Lowell (MA) Sun, pg. ?:
4. What is the only cheese that is made backwards?
Edam.
Google News Archive
14 May 1942, Pittsburgh (PA) Post-Gazette, “Test Your Horse Sense” by George W. Crane, Daily Magazine, pg. 2, col. 2:
3. Which one of these types of cheese is made, backwards?
Cheddar Edam Roquefort Swiss
Google Books
In Pursuit of Wisdom:
The Scope of Philosophy
By Abraham Kaplan
Beverly Hills, CA: Glencoe Press
1977
Pg. 55:
The sudden substitution of a mention for a use is the basis of much children’s humor (“What cheese is made backwards?” Answer: “Edam”); not all such humor is childish, as in the White Knight’s confusing but careful distinctions between his song, the name of the song, what the name is called, and what the song is called.
Twitter
h¡tman1971
@Hitman1971
@joolzp1 EDAM is MADE BACKWARDS
10:49 AM - 21 May 2009
Google Books
Dick and Dom’s Big Fat and Very Silly Joke Book
By Richard McCourt and Dominic Wood
London: Macmillan Children’s Books
2014
Pg. ?:
What cheese is made backwards?
EDAM
Twitter
Daniel Raphael
@Danielraphael1
What type of cheese is made backwards? Edam… #TellAnOldJokeDay
8:22 AM - 24 Jul 2014