6 ms·

Ah, but the important question is "WHICH cheddar cheese?" A lot of cheese is manufactured, some of it even colored orange artificially (especially in the US),

Ah, but the important question is "WHICH cheddar cheese?" A lot of cheese is manufactured, some of it even colored orange artificially (especially in the US), which is labelled 'Cheddar' but in reality is nothing at all like a true cheddar. (And then of course, there are those tasteless pale, plastic rubbery sheets labelled 'Kraft Cheddar Slices'.)

asylteltine 3y ago
Extra sharp of course
- simonblack 3y ago
  Sorry. Has to be 'Vintage' so that it's "Strong and Bitey".
kwhitefoot 3y ago
If it isn't made by the cheddar process how can it be called cheddar? How lax can your labelling regulations be?
- Turing_Machine 3y ago
  It is, in fact, made by the cheddar process. OP is incorrect.
dylan604 3y ago
I've never understood that. If someone were to hand you a glass of yellow milk, I'm guessing you wouldn't be too eager to drink it. I get that chocolate milk comes from brown cows, but I ain't ever seen a yellow cow. As an american with enough laps around the sun to have some experience, I'm constantly aghast with what we've allowed to happen to food.
- DarmokJalad1701 3y ago
  > I get that chocolate milk comes from brown cows ... what?
  - dylan604 3y ago
    It is known...by all kids up to the age of 8. Right about the time the truth about Santa Clause, Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy are known.
  - beebeepka 3y ago
    Ice cream used to be made of polar cows milk until the 50s. The world of food is truly bizarre.
  - vjulian 3y ago
    They’ve been bred that way for over 100 years in the US.
- coffeebeqn 3y ago
  There are naturally yellow cheeses. Probably all of them yellow as they age and dry
- woleium 3y ago
  interestingly chocolate milk is often made from the yellow milk.
- crazygringo 3y ago
  Cheddar isn't American, it's English. America hasn't "allowed" anything here, because they've been coloring it in England since the 17th century. And you're wrong about "yellow cows", in a way. Cheddar was first made in the village of Cheddar in Somerset, England, and the milk did have high levels of beta-carotene because of the local breeds eating the local grass. The original cheddar was yellow without anybody adding coloring at all.
Turing_Machine 3y ago
All orange cheese is artificially colored (even in the UK) and has been for centuries. It's mostly annatto now. Historically it was things like beet or carrot juice. Natural cheese at most has a yellowish color (like butter, though a lot of that is also colored -- and again has been for a very long time). "Cheddaring" is a process (most famously used in the Cheddar region of England, but not exclusive to there), referring to kneading salt into the raw cheese curds. It's not a protected designation, nor is there any real difference between the way cheddar cheese is made in England and the way it's made in other countries.
- Kon-Peki 3y ago
  This is the requirement to be labeled as "cheddar cheese" in the US: https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-21/chapter-I/subchapter-B/part-133/subpart-B/section-133.113 https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-21/chapter-I/subchapter-B... One or more of the clotting enzymes specified in paragraph (b)(2) of this section is added to set the dairy ingredients to a semisolid mass. The mass is so cut, stirred, and heated with continued stirring, as to promote and regulate the separation of whey and curd. The whey is drained off, and the curd is matted into a cohesive mass. The mass is cut into slabs, which are so piled and handled as to promote the drainage of whey and the development of acidity. The slabs are then cut into pieces, which may be rinsed by sprinkling or pouring water over them, with free and continuous drainage; but the duration of such rinsing is so limited that only the whey on the surface of such pieces is removed. The curd is salted, stirred, further drained, and pressed into forms.
  - Turing_Machine 3y ago
    So... the cheddar process, with much commonality with the way that any cheese anywhere is made? And?
    - Kon-Peki 3y ago
      And what? I've had cheddar cheese in the UK. I've had cheddar cheese in the US that was imported from Cheddar England. I've had cheddar cheese in the US that was made in the US. I have absolutely no idea what all the hand-wringing is about. What's wrong with American cheddar? Is there some sub-par brand out there that is sold in the majority of grocery stores in coastal America but not in the grocery stores in middle America? Are we just up in arms because some brands add some coloring to it?
Djle 3y ago
That someone is even pointing this out should give most people in the US a cause for concern. Sadly most people in the US have no idea what real cheese or chocolate actually tastes like.
- Kon-Peki 3y ago
  > Sadly most people in the US have no idea what real cheese... Oh? Interesting. > An Italian academic has caused more than a stir after saying the recipe for carbonara is American and the only place in the world to find bona fide parmesan cheese nowadays is Wisconsin. > Alberto Grandi, a professor of food history at the University of Parma, made the remarks in an interview with the Financial Times. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/mar/27/italian-academic-cooks-up-controversy-with-claim-carbonara-is-us-dish https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/mar/27/italian-academ...
  - keep_reading 3y ago
    Babcock Hall at UW is also like the world leading expert institution on dairy and cheese, too. (Try their ice cream, it's literal perfection from the ingredients to exact temperatures required to get the precise consistency)
  - Tainnor 3y ago
    What Grandi actually wrote was that Parmesan Cheese, which was imported into the US by Italians, continued to evolve in Italy but not in the US. I have no way of verifying whether this is true but it wouldn't be terribly surprising if it was, and in any way, this doesn't imply any value judgement whatsoever. Of course, the media are more interested in controversy, so they turn that into "bona fide parmesan cheese only exists in Wisconsin".
- amanaplanacanal 3y ago
  I dunno. Did you take a poll or something? There are tons of small local creameries and chocolatiers around.
  - 3y ago
jghn 3y ago
The exact wording on American Cheese packages matters quite a bit [1]. Some of the Kraft American cheese sub-categories, including this one, are actual cheese. [1] https://www.seriouseats.com/whats-really-in-american-cheese https://www.seriouseats.com/whats-really-in-american-cheese
- adriand 3y ago
  Although I agree that Kraft cheese slices deserve quotation marks around “cheese”, I would argue that they are still the best option for one sandwich and one sandwich only, namely, a fried egg on a lightly toasted English muffin. An Egg McMuffin, in other words. No other cheese delivers that particular delicious flavour.
dukeyukey 3y ago
> some of it even colored orange artificially (especially in the US) Which is really weird to me in the UK - Cheddar here (including stuff from the town of Cheddar!) is almost universally yellow.
- jghn 3y ago
  When it's truly natural, it's an artifact of the grass the cows are eating. But additives are often used [1] [1] https://www.bonappetit.com/story/why-is-cheddar-cheese-orange https://www.bonappetit.com/story/why-is-cheddar-cheese-orang...
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]

asylteltine 3y ago

Extra sharp of course

simonblack 3y ago
Sorry. Has to be 'Vintage' so that it's "Strong and Bitey".

kwhitefoot 3y ago

If it isn't made by the cheddar process how can it be called cheddar? How lax can your labelling regulations be?

Turing_Machine 3y ago
It is, in fact, made by the cheddar process. OP is incorrect.

dylan604 3y ago

I've never understood that. If someone were to hand you a glass of yellow milk, I'm guessing you wouldn't be too eager to drink it. I get that chocolate milk comes from brown cows, but I ain't ever seen a yellow cow. As an american with enough laps around the sun to have some experience, I'm constantly aghast with what we've allowed to happen to food.

DarmokJalad1701 3y ago
> I get that chocolate milk comes from brown cows ... what?
- dylan604 3y ago
  It is known...by all kids up to the age of 8. Right about the time the truth about Santa Clause, Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy are known.
- beebeepka 3y ago
  Ice cream used to be made of polar cows milk until the 50s. The world of food is truly bizarre.
- vjulian 3y ago
  They’ve been bred that way for over 100 years in the US.
coffeebeqn 3y ago
There are naturally yellow cheeses. Probably all of them yellow as they age and dry
woleium 3y ago
interestingly chocolate milk is often made from the yellow milk.
crazygringo 3y ago
Cheddar isn't American, it's English. America hasn't "allowed" anything here, because they've been coloring it in England since the 17th century. And you're wrong about "yellow cows", in a way. Cheddar was first made in the village of Cheddar in Somerset, England, and the milk did have high levels of beta-carotene because of the local breeds eating the local grass. The original cheddar was yellow without anybody adding coloring at all.

Turing_Machine 3y ago

All orange cheese is artificially colored (even in the UK) and has been for centuries. It's mostly annatto now. Historically it was things like beet or carrot juice. Natural cheese at most has a yellowish color (like butter, though a lot of that is also colored -- and again has been for a very long time). "Cheddaring" is a process (most famously used in the Cheddar region of England, but not exclusive to there), referring to kneading salt into the raw cheese curds. It's not a protected designation, nor is there any real difference between the way cheddar cheese is made in England and the way it's made in other countries.

Kon-Peki 3y ago
This is the requirement to be labeled as "cheddar cheese" in the US: https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-21/chapter-I/subchapter-B/part-133/subpart-B/section-133.113 https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-21/chapter-I/subchapter-B... One or more of the clotting enzymes specified in paragraph (b)(2) of this section is added to set the dairy ingredients to a semisolid mass. The mass is so cut, stirred, and heated with continued stirring, as to promote and regulate the separation of whey and curd. The whey is drained off, and the curd is matted into a cohesive mass. The mass is cut into slabs, which are so piled and handled as to promote the drainage of whey and the development of acidity. The slabs are then cut into pieces, which may be rinsed by sprinkling or pouring water over them, with free and continuous drainage; but the duration of such rinsing is so limited that only the whey on the surface of such pieces is removed. The curd is salted, stirred, further drained, and pressed into forms.
- Turing_Machine 3y ago
  So... the cheddar process, with much commonality with the way that any cheese anywhere is made? And?
  - Kon-Peki 3y ago
    And what? I've had cheddar cheese in the UK. I've had cheddar cheese in the US that was imported from Cheddar England. I've had cheddar cheese in the US that was made in the US. I have absolutely no idea what all the hand-wringing is about. What's wrong with American cheddar? Is there some sub-par brand out there that is sold in the majority of grocery stores in coastal America but not in the grocery stores in middle America? Are we just up in arms because some brands add some coloring to it?

Djle 3y ago

That someone is even pointing this out should give most people in the US a cause for concern. Sadly most people in the US have no idea what real cheese or chocolate actually tastes like.

Kon-Peki 3y ago
> Sadly most people in the US have no idea what real cheese... Oh? Interesting. > An Italian academic has caused more than a stir after saying the recipe for carbonara is American and the only place in the world to find bona fide parmesan cheese nowadays is Wisconsin. > Alberto Grandi, a professor of food history at the University of Parma, made the remarks in an interview with the Financial Times. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/mar/27/italian-academic-cooks-up-controversy-with-claim-carbonara-is-us-dish https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/mar/27/italian-academ...
- keep_reading 3y ago
  Babcock Hall at UW is also like the world leading expert institution on dairy and cheese, too. (Try their ice cream, it's literal perfection from the ingredients to exact temperatures required to get the precise consistency)
- Tainnor 3y ago
  What Grandi actually wrote was that Parmesan Cheese, which was imported into the US by Italians, continued to evolve in Italy but not in the US. I have no way of verifying whether this is true but it wouldn't be terribly surprising if it was, and in any way, this doesn't imply any value judgement whatsoever. Of course, the media are more interested in controversy, so they turn that into "bona fide parmesan cheese only exists in Wisconsin".
amanaplanacanal 3y ago
I dunno. Did you take a poll or something? There are tons of small local creameries and chocolatiers around.
- 3y ago

jghn 3y ago

The exact wording on American Cheese packages matters quite a bit [1]. Some of the Kraft American cheese sub-categories, including this one, are actual cheese. [1] https://www.seriouseats.com/whats-really-in-american-cheese https://www.seriouseats.com/whats-really-in-american-cheese

adriand 3y ago
Although I agree that Kraft cheese slices deserve quotation marks around “cheese”, I would argue that they are still the best option for one sandwich and one sandwich only, namely, a fried egg on a lightly toasted English muffin. An Egg McMuffin, in other words. No other cheese delivers that particular delicious flavour.

dukeyukey 3y ago

> some of it even colored orange artificially (especially in the US) Which is really weird to me in the UK - Cheddar here (including stuff from the town of Cheddar!) is almost universally yellow.

jghn 3y ago
When it's truly natural, it's an artifact of the grass the cows are eating. But additives are often used [1] [1] https://www.bonappetit.com/story/why-is-cheddar-cheese-orange https://www.bonappetit.com/story/why-is-cheddar-cheese-orang...
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]