Cheese ... from colonial cheddar to kraft singles

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception

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The pilgrims brought cheese and cows on the Mayflower.


Early American cheeses were made at home, eaten at home or sold in local markets. A variety of European styles persisted in non-commercial cheesemaking. The American industry soon honed in on a single type: cheddar. It was uniquely sturdy and adaptable and proved manageable in colonial conditions, it tasted great despite seasonal extremes in temperature and humidity that other European cheeses could not endure.

Americans were serious about cheddar.  By 1790 wheels of cheese were exported to England, the motherland of the breed. The cheese trade grew and revolutionary patriots became proud of their “American cheese” but British connoisseurs were contemptuous, judging “Yankee cheese” inferior to traditional cheddars. This poor reputation made American cheese cheap - snubbed by aristocrats, British commoners quickly bought up.

Cheesemaking was transformed forever when Jesse Williams created the first American cheese factory in New York in 1851. It was a father-son venture that bought milk from surrounding herds, pooling it to make cheese at one location.

Williams made commercial cheesemaking viable and reliably decent. Nationwide, cheese factories spread creating generic, factory cheddar that became so common that Americans simply called it “store cheese,” or “yellow cheese.”

Then James L. Kraft in 1903 moved from Canada to Chicago with $65 and with a horse and wagon started whole selling cheese. To reduce waste, Kraft tried packaging cheese in jars and later experimenting with cheese canning — an idea the Swiss had been tinkering with.

Then came something completely different - by shredding refuse cheddar, re-pasteurizing it, and mixing in sodium phosphate, Kraft produced the American processed cheese, patented in 1916.  It was an immediate commercial success and a boon to American soldiers in the World Wars.  By 1930 over 40% of cheese consumed in the U.S. was Kraft Cheese despite its relatively high price.

With clever advertising, Kraft charged more in exchange for their promise of safety and consistency regardless that the product was derived from inferior cheese.


Read the full text here: http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/21497#ixzz1kL7XFLk