More cheese, please.

That’s been the collective response from U.S. consumers who now eat 10 more pounds of cheese when compared to just 20 years ago. Back in 1997, total natural cheese consumption stood at 27.54 pounds. Fast-forward 20 years and that total climbed to 37.23 pounds, according to statistics compiled by USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), Farm Service Agency (FSA), Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS), and Economic Research Service (ERS).

That means Americans are drinking another 100 pounds of milk. That’s because, on average, it takes 100 pounds of milk to make 10 pounds of cheese.

Top cheese varieties
Here are USDA’s estimates for the top cheese varieties at three checkpoints in time, all on a per capita basis:

Mozzarella: 11.57 pounds in 2017; 8.16 pounds in 1997; 2.46 pounds in 1977.

Cheddar: 11.07 pounds in 2017; 9.51 pounds in 1997; 6.8 pounds in 1977.

Other American cheese varieties: 3.99 pounds in 2017; 2.3 pounds in 1997; 2.42 pounds in 1977.

Cream and Neufchatel: 2.64 pounds in 2017; 2.25 pounds in 1997; 0.80 pound in 1977.

Swiss: 1.05 pounds in 2017; 0.99 pound in 1997.

Hispanic cheese: 0.8 pound in 2017; 0.25 pound in 1997.

Muenster: 0.53 pound in 2017; 0.37 pound in 1997; 0.25 pound in 1977.

Blue: 0.3 pound in 2017; 0.18 pound in 1997; 0.18 pound in 1977.

All other cheeses: 1.49 pounds in 2017; 0.83 pound in 1997.