# Why do they dye cheddar cheese yellow **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 15, 2002, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-they-dye-cheddar-cheese-yellow/109239 "2002-05-15T18:57:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2002, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-they-dye-cheddar-cheese-yellow/109239/1 "2002-05-15T18:57:55Z")
I was grating cheese for dinner (tacos-yummy!), and I was using white extra sharp cheddar. And I mentioned to my mother that I find white cheddar strange, because I keep expecting it to taste like provolone, not cheddar. Why DO they dye cheddar cheese yellow? Presentation? That doesn’t make sense, as white cheddar doesn’t look so bad…any help here? ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2002, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-they-dye-cheddar-cheese-yellow/109239/2 "2002-05-15T19:11:48Z")
Here you go : [Why is cheddar cheese orange?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a981002b.html) ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2002, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-they-dye-cheddar-cheese-yellow/109239/3 "2002-05-15T19:17:08Z")
American consumers prefer their cheddar yellow. Cheddar from other countries is often left as its natural white state but mass produced American cheddar is almost always dyed. There used to be white cheddar available but manufacturers quickly found that consumers preferred and bought more of the dyed yellow kind. That is really all that it takes in business. My wife is one of the most knowledgeable and well known in the country. To be fair, many other types of cheese are also dyed to give it a distinct color. It is just the bright orangy-yellow color of most Aerican cheddar that stands our. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2002, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-they-dye-cheddar-cheese-yellow/109239/4 "2002-05-15T19:19:36Z")
That should be: My wife is one of the most knowledgeable and well known cheese experts in the country. ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2002, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-they-dye-cheddar-cheese-yellow/109239/5 "2002-05-15T19:25:34Z")
This reminds me of when margarine first came out. The butter industry had a fit about their new competitor and had the government pass a law that margarine could not be dyed yellow. So the margarine companies simply included a little capsule of yellow dye. I can remember women mixing the dye into the white margarine, which looked like Crisco. Soon the law was either repealed or nobody paid any attention to it. This was in the late 1940’s. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2002, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-they-dye-cheddar-cheese-yellow/109239/6 "2002-05-15T20:18:19Z")
Hey, **kniz** , my Grandma just told me that margarine story! Cool. ---
**Author:** ![bernse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@bernse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bernse)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2002, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-they-dye-cheddar-cheese-yellow/109239/7 "2002-05-15T20:48:46Z")
As far as I know, it’s still like that in Quebec (IE - Margarine can’t be yelllow). ---
**Author:** ![everton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@everton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/everton)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2002, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-they-dye-cheddar-cheese-yellow/109239/8 "2002-05-15T22:37:38Z")
[Here’s Cecil on the subject](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a981002b.html). But in fact if it’s not from Cheddar it’s not really Cheddar cheese (at least according to European regulations). [Cheese from Cheddar](http://www.cam.net.uk/camra/ale/295/cheeses.html) isn’t dyed any colour at all. Double Gloucester and Red Leicester are progressively stronger shades of orange. I’d recommend you to buy the real stuff if you can, but be grateful that they’re only using annatto these days - in the nineteenth century it was not unknown for them to use red lead.