It is orange because they add a dye to it-just like real (english) cheddat 9uses flower petals). Some foods are more appetizing if they are not white.
I wish we could enact a moratorium on the term “American [Cc]heese”. It always degenerates into a discussion of whether you mean:
A - processed cheese, almost always dyed pumpkin orange.
B - a specific type of normal cheese, basically a mild cheddar dyed to a degree dependent upon the whims of the manufacturer.
C - generically, cheese as manufactured or sold in America.
I believe the OP meant C), in this case, cheddar, particularly. Which, as sold in American supermarkets, is often dyed bright orange, particularly the milder or cheaper brands.
Processed cheese can be cast into a variety of shapes, some companies even create blocks with fake holes. What all these products have in common is that they are made from a mixture including molten cheese. If it’s (more or less) solid but it didn’t ripen in its final shape, then it’s not real cheese.
I’ll have to look next time I’m at the store but I’m reasonably certain it says its cheese on the package. I don’t think it says anything about being processed cheese or cheese food. I’m totally willing to be educated on this.
From the packaging:
Ignorance fought.
At least I was right that it is cheese.
The cheese store a couples miles from where I live has, mild cheddar, both orange and white (actually slightly yellow). I prefer the white not because of a mania for purity (I believe they use carotene) but because it is slightly less crumbly. The mild white cheddar is identical to the American cheese I grew up with which was really delicious and definitely not processed. Kraft cheese slices bear only the slightest resemblance to it. The cheese store also sells medium, strong, and extra strong cheddar, all white. They are also excellent, but I guess the mild white is, for me, a Proustian experience.
As for why the orange is colored, I can only suppose it has “always” been so and people like what they grew up with. For example, my 11 year old grandson loves mint chocolate chip ice cream, but only if it is green. The white version tastes identical.
Having nothing useful to add to this thread (although I’ve made many cheese-oriented contributions in the past), I do like the Wikipedia ‘American cheese’ subheading: Cheddarly origins
Edit: No, I do have something to say. Cecil should acknowledge that we have a huge amount of decent cheddar, and a lot of excellent stuff, all a lovely creamy white, no dye needed or expected. Actually, I can’t imagine seeing a ‘cheddar’ which I’d actually describe as orange.
:dubious:
Next you’re gonna tell me butter ain’t yeller!!!
:mad:
Butter is yeller when the grass is grin. Otherwise most butter is artificially colored. From my childhood, I remember winter butter as just off-white.
If we can use the name Cheddar when the cheese doesn’t actually come from there, it should be noted that real cheddar cheese is made in America, besides the mass-market “cheese process product” and “American slices”.
Can you (or would you want to) get American cheese in the UK?
You mean the stuff they stick inside burgers at MacDonalds? I guess that’s what we’re talking about. ‘Possessed Cheese’ a friend of mine called it. You can get that stuff here too, but it’s not much like cheese.
The real, true American cheese that I believe Christopher is referring to is a very mild, creamy, cheddar, that you buy freshly sliced at deli counters. The best kind is Land O’ Lakes.
I’m really getting tired of hearing this from people. You don’t have to like it, but if it’s not much like cheese then what is it like? Is Edam cheese? Is Brie cheese? Is Roquefort cheese? Is Gouda cheese? Is Parmesan cheese? The differences between those are greater in magnitude then I would consider the difference between hard white cheddar and yellow processed american cheese slices. There is no other food product that american cheese is closer to than cheese. American cheese is cheese, it’s bad cheese, but it’s still cheese.
Land O’ Lakes American is also a process cheese, like Kraft Deli Deluxe.
What’s all this “orange” talk? Individually wrapped American cheese slices are all yellow, in my experience.
I agree. American cheese is school-bus yellow.
http://images.google.com/images?um=1&tab=wi&hl=en&q=american%20cheese
If you search ‘yellow american cheese’ you get lotsa hits, but get many less with an ‘orange american cheese’ search.
To me, school bus yellow is a very orange yellow–I’d probably call it orange, too, if I wasn’t ingrained in me that school buses are yellow. If you pull out a pack of crayolas, I’d say Kraft singles are closer to orange than to yellow. YMMV, of course. But to me yellow is more like the color of lemons or bananas.
Ok, put it this way:
If you agree this is representative of American cheese, then the color in question is closer to orange than yellow. Analyzing this in Photoshop, using HSB (Hue, Saturation, Brightness), we get an average value of around 40 (range from 38-42 in most of the cheese, with 44 and 45 at the bottom left-hand corners) for Hue. 0 is red. 30 is pure orange. 60 is pure yellow.
However, of course, this cheese may be redder or yellower than your actual American cheese, depending on how accurate the colors in the picture are, of course. However, at the very least it seems that the color of American cheese is pretty much right between yellow and orange. I perceive it as slightly more orange (and would color in my cheeseburgers with an orange crayon), while some seem to perceive it as more yellow. Of course, individual brands of cheese vary.
In other words, it’s not that unusual to call this color “orange.”