Cheese Based Question aimed at Colonials.

[TeeDee]

I've wondered for a while now if the USA has much of a 'CHEESE SCENE' - Now , I love a good variety of Cheese and can be a little spoilt for whats available.

But my impression ( maybe wrong!! ) of American based Cheese is pretty much that its non- existent????

Which IF is the case I find really odd because of the great cultural influences via immigration and availability to Massive tracts of decent farmland.


So do you guys have an Underground cheese scene? Or is it all that plastic wrapped synthetic nonsense destined for Burger topping??

 

[Robson Valley]

BIG FOOD has very successfully lobbied government to establish a huge burden of inspection requirements.
The direct result is to stifle small competitors and keep that innocent look on their process cheese slice faces.
Slice? My apples. That crud is cast as a slab on the plastic and chilled.

There's a lot of good American cheeses made in the eastern states but their exports are hard to find.
Vermont, the Carolinas, Wisconsin in particular. No shortage of Youtube promo videos.

I've just done a 4-day cheese making course. We made 5 different cheeses. Some are OK fresh (Chevre)
while others need to sit for months (gruyere-type).
I'm willing to pursue it but only as a member of a very small group (not legal to even share!) If there's an underground cheese scene,
it's very, very quiet. 10+ years ago, I use to buy from such people and they were really good at it.
Story was that BIG FOOD stepped on them.

Somebody in Canada makes "gruyere-style" and "Emmenthal-style" but the taste just isn't there.
I search the deli counter for the european imports.

I have some residual fascination with making Brie and Camembert (kits available).
I have a big walk in cold-room in my house, ventilation cast right into the original concrete walls.
Need to see who else might be willing to share.

Does that help at all?

 

[Toddy]

That is such a shame, it really is. Processed cheese is plastic, it's not cheese, it's just plastic made from casein

Good rich red Scottish mature cheddar, Lanark blue, rich tasting Stilton, Cheshire, Lancashire, Wensleydale, creamy Welsh cheddar, Yarg, sage Derby, Y fenni, Dunlop and Davidstowe, Shropshire blue, red Leicester, caboc and Dovedale.....the list goes on and on for British Cheeses

M

 

[Robson Valley]

Kraft, Black Diamond and a couple others make cheese slices.
The house brands often have a better taste than the "national giants."
There's a couple of hundred million people love that stuff. Gourmet, they say.
You can't fix stupid.

Come up with a list of North American cheeses which are available across the continent?
You can't do it. I can name a few from eastern Canada, Quebec in particular.
Here in the west, 3,000 miles west, we might see those a few times each year.

Partly, the supply chain. The stores sell what's on the truck. Period.
In most case, they are not even allowed to deal with local sources.

But in Canada, at least, that's beginning to change.
Here in McBride, a couple of local organic farms growing heritage varieties
Have their own bins and table in big city grocery stores.

Bartering is a crime, especially big game. Crock of BS, I say. Burger, a roast or two, that's it.

Our Community Market had a few farm vendors earlier in the summer.

Ignatz could be your pet bison. You board him/her over on the ranch.
When about 30 months old, weighing the better part of a ton, Ignatz has a fatal accident.
Runs into a .30-'06 pill. So sad to lose a pet, huh?
Waste not, want not. Might as well butcher it and eat it.

 

[Toddy]

No wonder you want to make your own.
Are you going to try some of the grapeleaf wrapped ones like Banon?

I did find a couple of posts elsewhere on good American cheeses though.
http://www.seriouseats.com/2017/09/obsessed-bronwen-and-francis-percival-real-cheese.html

 

[Wander]

Sure I remember hearing that the British have more varieties of cheese than the French and more varieties of sausage than the Germans.
I don't know how true either of those statements are but even if not true they still suggest we can give both nations a damn good run for their money.

I do love a blue cheese. Either a stilton (especially the crust) or cambazola, depending on mood. Though no cheese plate is complete without an extra mature cheddar.
Very partial to emmental as well.

 

[Robson Valley]

Clearly, you all can't name a single "Made in America" signature cheese. Not one, as the OP asked. You can't do it. Neither can I.

Kraft Velveeta was the bulk block version of the more modern cheese "slice."
Now, we don't even need a knife.

CheezWhiz is a spreadable "cheese product" (don't you just love the phrase?)
The joke is that it's really a petroleum by-product.

Cottage cheese? Lots of people despise it. I like it. That's transcontinental.
Hard to find but Tressa is my #1 favorite.

I plan to make some cheese. It's been done for some 5,000 - 8,000 years that we know of.
I've got the grape leaves to be sure but I need to learn and be consistent with the cheese first.

The beginning steps, I have done at least 30 times. I did the cheese making course to learn
what comes next, what needs to be done over time. Excellent 10 page handout of recipes and instructions.

I bought rennet tablets in the city a few days ago. Bought 2 packages since the outside didn't say how much to use.
Eight tablets in each box, each good for 8 liters of milk. You do the math!
Booklet of recipes in microscopic print.

 

[Toddy]

I didn't know you could get rennet in tablets; ours comes in little essence bottles.

The older I get the more certain I am that writing is getting smaller on every packet

M

 

[Robson Valley]

Back in a past life, I used Rennilase which did come in little essence bottles.
Now, the smallest is about 125ml, enough to last me 3 lifetimes.

According to the cheese recipes:
1/2 a tablet crushed in a little water, will be enough for approx 4 liters of milk.
The dang recipe booklet is red printing on white paper. I think I'll just
decided to retype one recipe per day and keep it digital, like my personal cookbook.

 

[petrochemicals]

I bought rennet tablets in the city a few days ago. Bought 2 packages since the outside didn't say how much to use.
Eight tablets in each box, each good for 8 liters of milk. You do the math!
.

64 litres Robson

 

[santaman2000]

American cheese other than the "processed cheese?" A few come to mind: 1) Monterey Jack, 2) Colby, 3) New York Chedder. As the OP said, the multi-cultural nature means that our cheeseries (is that a real word?) produce cheeses based on most European cheeses: Swiss Cheese (the hole filled one) Bleau Cheeses, Parmesan, Mozzarello, Feta, etc. But as RV said, they're all made by a few companies in New York, California, Vermont, Wisconsin, and a few smaller ones in the Southeast. Raw milk can only be bought directly from a farm and cheese (or any other dairy product) made from raw milk can never be sold or bartered (although you can make it yourself for personal/family use and for gifts)

Typically in the South we like our cheeses a darker yellow while they like paler cheeses up North.

I'm also quite fond of Mexican cheeses.

 

[Robson Valley]

santaman: how right you are. But is there some iconic cheese from North America which is not a copy from the old world classics?

petrochemicals: let's put a gold star in your copy book. It was far more capacity than I had imagined.
But, those dim bulbs said nothing on the outside of the packages.
I know that I should pay more attention to the costs, the prices of these things, but I forget to ask.

We got lucky = the instructors in our class were accustomed to making cheese with 600 liter batches of milk.
This was no dumbed-down, Mickey-Mouse soiree'. At $110.00 per seat, this was all business.
Scaling that down for a class of 20 people, each of the five cheese we made used no more than
70 liters of milk per cheese style for the whole class. Times 5 different cheeses . . . . . .
We got fed and watered all day long with top quality cheese & fruit plates and mid day meals.
Breakfasts of gallons of coffee & tea, dozens of pastries straight from the ovens.
What a cilvilized way for an old man to wake up.

 

[santaman2000]

santaman: how right you are. But is there some iconic cheese from North America which is not a copy from the old world classics?.....

Sort of. It would probably be impossible to come up with a completely new cheese. However, even a basic chedder will be different here than it is in the old world. Your chemistry back should tell you why.

Cheese (like wine) begins with a base (milk or grape juice) The grapes grown here will be somewhat different from those grown elsewhere (even the same varietals) due to different climate and soils. Likewise with the milk, it will be different here due to differences in pastures. Next, both cheese making and wine making depend on yeast and the yeasts here will have different end results.

It's why even within the confines of the UK, the cheese will tastse different in the north vs the south (and so would the wine)

 

[Janne]

I think that processed cheese was invented in the US? A great invention!
Yes you can get US and Canadian copies from European cheeses, but they are under matured.

It took me about two years to discover why the parmesan I bought here was tasting less and was softer and saltier than in Europe.
Made in USA.

I never checked the packaging for country of origin, as I assumed that the US respected the protection of origin ( or whaever it is calked. D.O.P. in Italy).

Not all are substandard though. US Mozarella taste virtually the same as standard Italian Mozarells.

US cheddars are not too bad, just not matured enough.

 

[santaman2000]

I think that processed cheese was invented in the US? A great invention!.....

Even the label here in the US calls this "Processed Cheese Food not "cheese.

 

[santaman2000]

.....Yes you can get US and Canadian copies from European cheeses, but they are under matured.

It took me about two years to discover why the parmesan I bought here was tasting less and was softer and saltier than in Europe.
Made in USA.

I never checked the packaging for country of origin, as I assumed that the US respected the protection of origin ( or whaever it is calked. D.O.P. in Italy).

Not all are substandard though. US Mozarella taste virtually the same as standard Italian Mozarells.

US cheddars are not too bad, just not matured enough.

I'm surprised you think the US Mozzarella tastes like the Italian one. After all, we make it from cows' milk whereas the Itsalians make it from buffalo's milk.

I imagine part of the difference between the taste of other US vs European versions (you mentioned Parmesan) might be aging, but I also suspect the fact we use pasturized milk vs raw milk in Italy might have something to do with it. I don't know if the saltiness difference is a difference of taste or a difference of climate (it may or may not take more salt here to preserve cheese?) I do know that yes, I prefer my cheese a little saltier.

As to "protection de origin" I don't think we really even believe it relevant in the sense of foods? To us a "cheedder" or a Swiss" is a TYPE of cheese rather than necessarily being produced there (champagne being a prime example) That said, they (cheeses and wines) will obviously still tatse different by being produced in different places if only due to the differences I mentioned a post back (different yeast and base materials)

 

[Robson Valley]

That's important: cheese type. Indicative of the region where that formula became popular.
Why do the wannabe copycat? Why not come up with something both good and distinctive?
To me, Brie, Camembert, Stilton, Feta and Tressa are showcase examples.

There's 101 different things that impact the taste of any cheese.
Our instructors told us that they had to change the formula with the seasons.
What the sheep ate during the year had a profound effect on the taste of the cheeses, 6 months later.

 

[Janne]

Standard italian is made from cows milk. It is only the one with the DOP designation that is made from water bufallo milk.
Much nicer - yes, but also much more expensive.

Santaman, just one example: Champagne is a region in France. Also a wine specifically produced there, from grapes grown there.

You can not produce Champagne in California. Or East Sussex.

Most European cheeses are produced using pasteurized milk. But we use what you call Grade A milk.

There are copies of Parmegiano made all over Europe. Gran Padano and a few others in Italy. Gran Moravia in Czech Rep.
One is made in UK ( forgot the name)

The name of that family of cheeses is called Grana. Means grain in english. The texture is grainy.

Call it Grana Americana. Grana Washington. Grana Trumpet.
But not Parmesan..

Swiss cheese... yes, if it is made in Switzerland. Swiss cheese made in US? No such thing. Swiss style cheese - yes.

 

[santaman2000]

That's important: cheese type. Indicative of the region where that formula became popular.
Why do the wannabe copycat? Why not come up with something both good and distinctive?.....

I suspect because after a few thousand years of cheese making, there's not much "new" to come up with.

 

[oldtimer]

Scottish Cheddar, New York Cheddar? Cheddar is in Somerset UK!

You'll be talking about Cornish Brie next!

NB, no cheese has ever been made in Stilton. True or false?