Kraft Processed Cheddar Cheese Slices

[DonRocks]

I'm wondering if there's any cheddaring ("to cheddar" is a verb) going on with Kraft individually packaged Cheddar slices.

If you handed me a slice of this, and asked me what it was, I would probably guess it was American.

This cheese simply does not resemble a cheese that has been cheddared. How are they allowed to call it Cheddar?

Assuming this is all a big fraud, I want to offer an apology to our U.K. Brethren for the crime we've committed against them.

[Banco]

Rinse your mouth out, eat some Roquefort and Sauternes, and don't ever bring this up again.

[johnb]

If the word "Cheddar" appears on the label, then I believe there must be some percentage of cheddar cheese in the product as specified in the relevant regulations (I don't have the wherewithall at the moment to look up the particulars). This would be true even if this is a process cheese.  Of course there are wildly varying qualities and types of cheese that qualify as cheddar, so what you are getting in this package is doubtless a long way from an English farmhouse cheddar.

It may be worth noting that Kraft has recently won some serious cheddar contests with its Cracker Barrel Aged cheddar, the one in the black package), but that is a different animal for sure.  A good cheese and well worth the price though, especially when it's on sale.

Since the subject of process cheese often comes up in these threads, it is also worth noting that process cheese also runs a very wide quality range.  There ius a lot of confusion about this.  The stuff sold in the dairy case as "cheese food" or "slices" in individual wraps is pretty bad. But if you go to the deli counter and have them slice off some of the better stuff (it will be labeled "process American cheese"), you will find it is very different.  The latter is IMO what one should be using on one's cheeseburgers, or as a melt cheese in cheese grits and the like, in combination with real cheddar.  Process cheese was developed (in Switzerland by the way) as a melting cooking cheese, and it does that job well.  Just avoid the cheap stuff.

[DonRocks]

The stuff sold in the dairy case as "cheese food" or "slices" in individual wraps is pretty bad. 

BTW, you probably know this, but others may not: these individually wrapped "slices" were never actually sliced from anything - what you see is their original form.

[lperry]

Cheese food is what is fed to cheese, no?  It is part of the cheese infrastructure.

[zoramargolis]

My understanding is that it is called "cheese food" because it isn't true cheese--it is ersatz processed cheese made with a small percentage of cheese curd, oil, dehydrated milk, and chemicals.

[TheMatt]

About the closest I get to "cheese food" on a regular basis is Petit Suisse...and I'm not sure how that's classified in America. I mean, it's cheese, but it's centrifuged...and I like the fruit-flavored versions. (And, yes, I know your supposed to pop the wee cylinder from the package, but I just eat it like a luxurious Activia straight with a spoon.)

[Banco]

It's true, and supremely ironic, that this "corpse of cheese" (I forget the reference) was invented by a son of one of the great cheese cultures (sorry), Switzerland. His name was Walter Gerber. In Switzerland and elsewhere in Europe  it is still often referred to as Gerberkäse. http://emmi-gerber.ch/index.php?id=1392

[DrXmus]

Not to hijack the "cheddar" thread, but I tried a Kraft "slice" a few weeks ago for the first time in many years. I don't know if my tastes have changed or if the cheese food did, but it had a distinctive sour note that lingered and grossed me out for at least 30 minutes. Ack!!

[Pat]

Not to hijack the "cheddar" thread, but I tried a Kraft "slice" a few weeks ago for the first time in many years. I don't know if my tastes have changed or if the cheese food did, but it had a distinctive sour note that lingered and grossed me out for at least 30 minutes. Ack!!

The American singles that my mom always used for grilled cheese tasted awful to me the last time I had them.  I used to keep a small package in the refrigerator for nostalgic grilled cheeses, but I gave up after that.  I don't think my tastes have changed that much.  More likely it's a change in the production of the cheese.

[johnb]

The American singles that my mom always used for grilled cheese tasted awful to me the last time I had them.  I used to keep a small package in the refrigerator for nostalgic grilled cheeses, but I gave up after that.  I don't think my tastes have changed that much.  More likely it's a change in the production of the cheese.

As mentioned earlier,  there are many grades of process cheese these days.  The newer grades are also lower grades, made cheaply.  What your Mom used was likely actual American cheese, a defined product much better than the "cheese food" and "slices" that account for most sales of this style of cheese today.  American cheese is still available, but you won't get it unless you  make sure of what you are buying.  The best place to get it is to have some sliced for you at the deli.

[DonRocks]

As mentioned earlier,  there are many grades of process cheese these days.  The newer grades are also lower grades, made cheaply.  What your Mom used was likely actual American cheese, a defined product much better than the "cheese food" and "slices" that account for most sales of this style of cheese today.  American cheese is still available, but you won't get it unless you  make sure of what you are buying.  The best place to get it is to have some sliced for you at the deli. 

It's a national embarrassment to have this product, even sliced from a brick, called "American Cheese"

[johnb]

It's a national embarrassment to have this product, even sliced from a brick, called "American Cheese" 

No it's not, except of course that it was invented in Switzerland so perhaps should be called "Swiss" cheese.  Does it belong on the cheese trolley alongside the epoisses?  No, of course not. But it's a perfectly good product to be used in certain specific applications, where it is unparalleled, notably on cheeseburgers (even that French guy Tourondel in LV says so) and for applications where cheese needs to be smoothly melted and integrated into the product, such as cheese grits, scalloped potatoes, and most of all mac and cheese, in all of which it is best used in combination with other, "natural," cheeses, such as, yes, its Mom, cheddar.

[lperry]

No it's not, except of course that it was invented in Switzerland so perhaps should be called "Swiss" cheese.  Does it belong on the cheese trolley alongside the epoisses?  No, of course not. But it's a perfectly good product to be used in certain specific applications, where it is unparalleled, notably on cheeseburgers (even that French guy Tourondel in LV says so) and for applications where cheese needs to be smoothly melted and integrated into the product, such as cheese grits, scalloped potatoes, and most of all mac and cheese, in all of which it is best used in combination with other, "natural," cheeses, such as, yes, its Mom, cheddar.

Good lord.  That's why we have béchamel.  I am weeping at the thought of those abominations being in the same room, much less the same container, as grits.

[DonRocks]

Good lord.  That's why we have béchamel.  I am weeping at the thought of those abominations being in the same room, much less the same container, as grits. 

Thanks, Linda. I wanted to say "this," but I wasn't sure what "this" was.

[johnb]

Good lord.  That's why we have béchamel.  I am weeping at the thought of those abominations being in the same room, much less the same container, as grits. 

Linda, if you make bechamel for cheese grits, then my hat is off to you.  You're probably in the 1% on that one.  That said, if you'd like to have a double-blind tasting some day of your bechemel cheese grits vs. my cheese grits and see how much better your version actually is, then game on.  One thing I have learned in life is that talk, in places like this, about the superiority of various foods is easy, but the truth that comes out of blind tastings is sometimes a different thing.

[lperry]

Linda, if you make bechamel for cheese grits, then my hat is off to you.  You're probably in the 1% on that one.  That said, if you'd like to have a double-blind tasting some day of your bechemel cheese grits vs. my cheese grits and see how much better your version actually is, then game on.  One thing I have learned in life is that talk, in places like this, about the superiority of various foods is easy, but the truth that comes out of blind tastings is sometimes a different thing.

Blind tasting with this product isn't a fair fight with me.  There's something in there that sets off my supertaster issues - a sort of chemical / drywall flavor.  I last tasted it a month or so ago at a restaurant that substituted this type of product for my order of cheddar, and I tasted it through lettuce, tomato, bread, a veggie burger, and a load of ketchup.  They couldn't believe I knew the difference, but they took it back and gave me real cheese.

I make cheese grits with romano and chèvre, often with some cooked greens stirred in.  Baking them with shirred eggs is also nice.

[Pat]

As mentioned earlier,  there are many grades of process cheese these days.  The newer grades are also lower grades, made cheaply.  What your Mom used was likely actual American cheese, a defined product much better than the "cheese food" and "slices" that account for most sales of this style of cheese today.  American cheese is still available, but you won't get it unless you  make sure of what you are buying.  The best place to get it is to have some sliced for you at the deli. 

We used to buy sliced American cheese from the deli when I was a kid, and that was real cheese.  It was a little bit sharp in taste. We usually called it "square cheese," as I recall.  I haven't tried buying it in a deli in quite a while, but it was decent enough cheese. My mom didn't use that for grilled cheese, though.  That was for ham (or other deli meat) sandwiches.  For grilled cheese, she used Kraft American singles, which she usually kept in the freezer.  Looking back, I think that might have been the only thing she used them for.

[Pat]

It's a national embarrassment to have this product, even sliced from a brick, called "American Cheese" 

The American cheese I grew up eating, sliced from a brick in the deli, was decent cheese.  My memory may be playing tricks on me, but I think it had some tiny holes in it too.  It was not the plastic-y stuff.

[johnb]

Blind tasting with this product isn't a fair fight with me.  There's something in there that sets off my supertaster issues - a sort of chemical / drywall flavor.  I last tasted it a month or so ago at a restaurant that substituted this type of product for my order of cheddar, and I tasted it through lettuce, tomato, bread, a veggie burger, and a load of ketchup.  They couldn't believe I knew the difference, but they took it back and gave me real cheese.

I make cheese grits with romano and chèvre, often with some cooked greens stirred in.  Baking them with shirred eggs is also nice.

I don"t doubt for a second what you say about the chemical/drywall flavor.  You get that in the cheap grades, which are labled "cheese product" or "slices," which is very likely what that restaurant was pawning off on you.  But those are different from, and greatly inferior to, the real stuff -- see Pat's comments above.  And that's what I am trying to point out is better and a legitimately useful ingredient.

I have also done the egg trick.  I just drop a couple of eggs right into the grits and let them cook in there until the whites are nicely done.  Serve.

[johnb]

We used to buy sliced American cheese from the deli when I was a kid, and that was real cheese.  It was a little bit sharp in taste. We usually called it "square cheese," as I recall.  I haven't tried buying it in a deli in quite a while, but it was decent enough cheese. My mom didn't use that for grilled cheese, though.  That was for ham (or other deli meat) sandwiches.  For grilled cheese, she used Kraft American singles, which she usually kept in the freezer.  Looking back, I think that might have been the only thing she used them for. 

What your Mom used was also likely real cheese, which is what was available in the dairy case back in the day.  The cheap stuff came more recently.  After all, many stores didn't even have deli departments back then -- the only way Kraft/Borden etc. could market the stuff in some places was packaged in cellophane.  You can still get the good stuff in the dairy case, but you have to know what to look for ("pasteurized process American cheese"), not cheese food, not cheese product, not slices. It also costs more.  But it's there.  Still, I recommend the deli.  And you are right -- the good stuff does have little holes in it.