American cheese Totally Explained

Everything about American Cheese totally explained

ť For information on processed cheese in general, see processed cheese.:This article refers specifically to one type of cheese. For other cheeses of the United States, see List of American cheeses.

American cheese is a common processed cheese. It is orange, yellow, white in color and mild in flavor, with a medium-firm consistency, and melts easily. It has traditionally been made from a blend of cheeses, most often Colby and Cheddar. Today's American cheese is generally no longer made from a blend of all-natural cheeses, but instead is a processed cheese (for example it's manufactured from a set of ingredients such as milk, whey, milkfat, milk protein concentrate, whey protein concentrate, salt) which meets the legal definition of cheese.
The common use of the marketing label "American Cheese" for "processed cheese" combined with the prevalence of processed cheese in the U.S. compared to the rest of the world has led to the term American cheese being used in the United States synonymously in place of processed cheese. Moreover, the term "American cheese" has a legal definition as a type of pasteurized process cheese under the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations. The legal definition is discussed in the article on processed cheese.
American Cheese has long been a mainstay in popular American cuisine, most notably on cheeseburgers, in grilled cheese sandwiches, and in ham and cheese sandwiches.

Varieties

Origins in cheddar

Despite the common usage, American Cheese also has another definition. It can also refer to a mild, pale white to yellow cheddar. This is the source of origin of the name, as the gradual "watering down" of mild cheddar by processing it gave rise to modern American cheese.
The term store cheese is sometimes informally used to describe American Cheese and similar American cheddars.

Processed American Cheese

Even though the term "American cheese" has a legal definition in the United States as a type of pasteurized process cheese, products with the label "American Cheese" are by no means identical. Depending on the additives and the amounts of milk fat and water added to the cheese during emulsification, the taste and texture of American Cheese varies, with some varieties (for example "American Cheese" and "American Process Cheese") being very similar to non-processed cheese and other varieties (for example "American Cheese Food" and "American Cheese Product") being more like Velveeta or Cheez Whiz. The interested consumer should pay close attention to the wording used on the label of each product and to the ingredient list. (Refer to the definitions in the Sale and labeling section of the article on Processed cheese.)
The taste and texture of American Cheese varies considerably, and mostly depends on the percentage of cheese versus additives used during the emulsification process. Varieties with lower percentages of additives tend to taste more like natural unprocessed cheese. In addition, depending on the food manufacturer, the color of the cheese (orange, yellow, or white) may signify different ingredients or process. Some manufacturers reserve the white and yellow colors for their more natural (for example fewer additives) American Cheese varieties. In other cases, the ingredients for white and orange colors are the same, except for the coloring. However, this doesn't necessarily mean that even these white and orange cheeses have the exact same flavor and texture because the spice annatto, which has a subtle but noticeable taste, is often used for coloring American Cheese. Another article from 1878 mentions that the high quality American cheese is usually re-labelled under European names after export, with only low grade cheese retaining American labelling in Europe. It also states that even in the United States quality American cheese is often relabelled as Swiss, etc, and that this situation is a detriment to the reputation of American cheesemakers. This practice may be in part responsible for the name "American cheese" being synonymous with bland, low quality cheese.

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