There comes a time in everyone’s life when they ask an age-old question about the world’s most questionable unaged dairy product: What is American cheese?
Is it orange plastic flavored like milk and salt? Is it just solidified, thickened, rubbery milk solids dyed orange for our visual pleasure? Or, rather, is it just plain old cheese that melts like the heart of a hopeless romantic and tastes like deliciously creamy, salty milk? We’re about to answer all your questions about American cheese before those final few barbecues of the summer pass us by!
What is American cheese NOT?
Let’s bust a myth once and for all. Is American cheese plastic? American cheese is not made of plastic. I don’t know what your childhood best friend’s health nut mom told you, but that salty, orange square on your daily turkey sandwich was indeed food and not plastic.
This confusion may come from the FDA’s definitions of various processed cheese products, which say that the cheeses and other added ingredients (such as whey, milk solids, and emulsifying agents) in pasteurized process cheese food products a must be mixed into a “homogeneous plastic mass.” People are quick to take this and say, “Nyah nyah, even the FDA says it’s plastic, I’ll never eat that—I’m not a 1971 Malibu Barbie, I’m a real boy.” But in this case, the word plastic isn’t being used as a noun to refer to the non-biodegradable material car bumpers are made out of. Rather, it’s being used as an adjective meaning something that is “capable of being molded or modeled.” So, if you think about it in those terms, fruit roll-ups are plastic, some chocolate is plastic, fondant and marzipan are plastic, and, yes, a lot of different cheeses (not just American) are also plastic.
Alright then, what IS American Cheese?
Well, the short answer is that it is cheese. The slightly longer answer, according to J. Kenji López-Alt at Serious Eats, is that it’s cheese that has been “blended with a few other ingredients to alter its texture and flavor.” But what are those “other ingredients?” Nothing crazy; just “additional whey, milk proteins, and emulsifying salts.” And if the term “emulsifying” scares you, don’t worry, that’s just the stuff that makes the water-soluble milk-solid part of the cheese able to stay together with the fat in the cheese. Emulsifiers are precisely what allow American cheese to melt and become almost sauce like, while cheddar can separate into an oily mess when melted.
The Best American Cheese for Your Next Grilled Cheese Sandwich
How is American cheese made?
American cheese is made by melting down a mixture made from chunks of other cheeses such as cheddar, colby, and Swiss with a liquid and an emulsifying agent like sodium citrate or sodium phosphate. That liquid mixture is then molded into bricks or slices, and packaged for mass consumption. Just picture that beautiful factory machinery footage, isn’t it grand?
Where does American cheese come from?
Turns out its origins are not the most American at all. The cheese we know today was inspired by a practice used in Switzerland, wherein people would melt down all of their cheese scraps into one big franken-cheese.
When was American cheese invented? And who invented American cheese?
A Canadian-American named James Kraft (ring a bell?) perfected the process and started selling “American cheese” in the U.S. back in 1916. So, this stuff is not some newfangled chemical concoction, in fact, it’s oldfangled.
Can you freeze American cheese?
Yes, studies have found that as long as you wrap the cheese extremely well to prevent freezer burn, American cheese can be frozen for up to two months. Move over, fudgsicles, there’s a new treat to beat the heat!
Is Velveeta American cheese?
Not quite! Velveeta is a brand name for a processed cheese that is similar to American cheese, but is classified as its own entity.
What is White American cheese?
White American cheese, as the name suggests, has a pale, ivory-white color. This coloring is accomplished by using only pale cheeses as its core mixture, and not using any coloration additives.
Does American cheese have lactose?
Yes, American cheese contains lactose because it’s a processed cheese that’s blended with whey, which is high in lactose, to help it melt.
Does American cheese go bad?
Yes, but not for a while! If the cheese is still sealed in its original packaging, it can typically last up to four months in the refrigerator. Once opened, it’s best to use American cheese slices within two to three weeks. Unless you like them with a little added “greenery” from the aging process…
American cheese is a beautiful thing. It is versatile enough to be a cheese, or when melted, a sauce. Is it the healthiest thing at the grocery store? Heck no, but that goes for all cheese. So eat what you want and don’t let anyone tell you it’s plastic.
