Post
by Brebis » Sat Apr 24, 2021 8:53 am
The last place I worked at made several processed cheeses. Some were in a block similar to processed cheese slices to a smoked process Gouda to a powdered Romano or Parmesan to the worst which was trim. The trim was the colour and texture of silly putty and sent out and used in other processed cheeses.
My Mum loved Cheez whiz but us kids hated it (though we loved processed cheese slices). I suspect she just got it so she could have it all to herself! Now I have a ravenous teenaged kid to feed I can appreciate finding things I like and those he doesn’t - mine is anything with nuts, he hates them so bring on the peanut laden cookies and granola bars!!
A lot of these cheeses are made to use up the trim and waste cheese products in plants. Some is collected trimmings from cutting blocks of cheddar or other cheeses and dealing with cheeses that are safe to eat but are out of spec or mouldy. You’ll be happy to know anything that hit the floor went to a mink farm!
We had a big blender which would mix up the waste cheese with other ingredients such as cheese and whey powders, butter, flavourings and colour if in the recipe. It was then put into the cooker and cooked to a specific temp and squeezed out into forms for block process cheeses or sausage type tubing for smoked Gouda. Some of the ingredients were actually real cheese but most just stuff to give it the qualities needed for the finished processed product and make it cheap.
Since I was in QA, I sampled all of these cheeses and taste tested them too and though most weren’t too bad I’m ashamed to admit the processed smoked Gouda was really good! This from someone who loves mouldy raw milk Artisan cheeses!
So, I guess it comes down to taste, it isn’t all bad though most of it is highly processed and if the waste wasn’t used in these we’d need a hell of a lot of mink to feed it to! Many of the powdered ingredients came from across the world which just goes to show how international these supply chains are for many of our processed foods, a waste product there repackaged and sent here to make processed products here...
2
Retired dairy shepherd and cheesemaker and former keeper of a menagerie of chickens and Pencilled Turkeys, now owned by three cats and a border collie x Australian shepherd who keeps me fit and on my toes!