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What makes cheddar cheese taste so good?

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Re: What makes cheddar cheese taste so good?

#21

Post by Turing_Machine »

Kon-Peki wrote: post #13
Turing_Machine wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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), refe…

This is the requirement to be labeled as "cheddar cheese" in the US: 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 o…

So... the cheddar process, with much commonality with the way that any cheese anywhere is made?

And?

Re: What makes cheddar cheese taste so good?

#22

Post by jghn »

dukeyukey wrote: post #19
simonblack wrote: post #2

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'.)

> 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.

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-orang...

Re: What makes cheddar cheese taste so good?

#23

Post by Malic »

thot_experiment wrote: post #14

Anyone have recommendations for some cheddar to try? I haven't eaten it in years since I discovered dubliner, which basically just seems like cheddar but more delicious to me, but I'm sure I'm just uninformed.

Hook's (out of Mineral Point, WI) 5-years aged cheddar is a good place to start. These are the folks that due to a warehouse/cheese-cave clerical error discovered they had a few cases of 20-years aged cheddar. Seriously, it was very good and in no way disgusting.

https://hookscheese.com/

Re: What makes cheddar cheese taste so good?

#24

Post by woleium »

dylan604 wrote: post #5
simonblack wrote: post #2

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'.)

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.

interestingly chocolate milk is often made from the yellow milk.

Re: What makes cheddar cheese taste so good?

#25

Post by jasonpeacock »

thot_experiment wrote: post #14

Anyone have recommendations for some cheddar to try? I haven't eaten it in years since I discovered dubliner, which basically just seems like cheddar but more delicious to me, but I'm sure I'm just uninformed.

Get yourself some Cougar Gold, it's amazing. Yeah, I know, "it's in a can" but it doesn't matter. In fact, get a couple of cans and shove some into the back of your fridge to age for a year or three and it becomes even more amazing!

https://creamery.wsu.edu/cougar-cheese/flavors/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cougar_Gold_cheese

Re: What makes cheddar cheese taste so good?

#26

Post by dylan604 »

DarmokJalad1701 wrote: post #15
dylan604 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> I get that chocolate milk comes from brown cows ... what?

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.

Re: What makes cheddar cheese taste so good?

#27

Post by keep_reading »

Malic wrote: post #23
thot_experiment wrote: post #14

Anyone have recommendations for some cheddar to try? I haven't eaten it in years since I discovered dubliner, which basically just seems like cheddar but more delicious to me, but I'm sure I'm just uninformed.

Hook's (out of Mineral Point, WI) 5-years aged cheddar is a good place to start. These are the folks that due to a warehouse/cheese-cave clerical error discovered they had a few cases of 20-years aged cheddar. Seriously, it was very good and in no way disgusting. https://hookscheese.com/

I've talked to the Hooks folks, and they have disaster recovery storage plan for their cheese spread throughout the country to survive various natural disasters.

edit: 15yr Hooks is heavenly too

Re: What makes cheddar cheese taste so good?

#28

Post by Kon-Peki »

Turing_Machine wrote: post #21
Kon-Peki wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the requirement to be labeled as "cheddar cheese" in the US: 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 o…

So... the cheddar process, with much commonality with the way that any cheese anywhere is made? And?

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?

Re: What makes cheddar cheese taste so good?

#29

Post by crazygringo »

dylan604 wrote: post #5
simonblack wrote: post #2

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'.)

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.

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.

Re: What makes cheddar cheese taste so good?

#30

Post by beebeepka »

DarmokJalad1701 wrote: post #15
dylan604 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> I get that chocolate milk comes from brown cows ... what?

Ice cream used to be made of polar cows milk until the 50s. The world of food is truly bizarre.
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