• Only a fraction of the milk used to make cheese winds up in a finished wedge. The rest — as much as 90% — becomes a liquid byproduct called whey. Dumping that whey into rivers and lakes would throw off their natural chemical balance. So savvy cheesemakers in Canada, France, the U.K. and the U.S. feed it into mechanical “digesters” that convert whey into methane biogas used to power the cheesemaking facilities themselves and sometimes the villages where they’re located.

• Napoleon’s 1812 invasion of Russia supposedly was thwarted by the bitter cold Russian winter, which turned the tin buttons on his soldiers’ uniforms to dust. Chemistry teachers love that story, because nothing illustrates an element undergoing physical change quite like the image of freezing soldiers with their pants falling down. Tin darkens and turns powdery at low temperatures. Did that fact contribute to Napoleon marching in with 600,000 men and retreating with only about 30,000 left alive? Unlikely.

.1. Vermilion is a shade of what color?

A) Blue

B) Green

C) Red

D) Yellow

2. The Beatles’ “All You Need Is Love” opens with a passage from which national anthem?

A) “God Save the Queen”

B) “Hail to Thee, Nicaragua”

C) “La Marseillaise”

D) “The Star-Spangled Banner”

3. Which is the largest country in Africa by population?

A) Egypt

B) Ethiopia

C) Nigeria

D) South Africa

4. Which variety of cheese accounts for the biggest percentage of total production by U.S. cheesemakers?

A) Cheddar

B) Cream cheese

C) Mozzarella

D) Swiss

5. Traditionally, a tin roof sundae is made with vanilla ice cream, warm chocolate sauce and what other ingredient?

A) Butterscotch

B) Chocolate chips

C) Peppermint sticks

D) Salted peanuts

6. Helvetica typeface takes its name from the Latin name of what country?

A) Greece

B) Hungary

C) India

D) Switzerland

Answers

1) Vermilion is a shade of red.

2) The Beatles’ “All You Need Is Love” opens with a passage from “La Marseillaise,” the national anthem of France.

3) Nigeria is the largest country by population in Africa — and the seventh largest in the world.

4) U.S. cheesemakers produce more mozzarella than any other cheese variety.

5) A classic tin roof sundae contains lightly salted peanuts.

6) Helvetica typeface takes its name from the Latin name of Switzerland.

Email Leslie at triviabitsleslie@gmail.com.