Hello cheese lovers! Too many Americans love cheese in the same way they adore Twinkies. They're eager to consume "cheese products"--like Cheez Wiz from 1952--that are stored in cans... or have a "shelf life" of several years. That is not cheese. In fact, it can only be labelled as "cheese spread", which is the same as "cheese product". (Full of greed, Cheez Wiz reduced the actual cheese content throughout the years). Such things are merely artificial ingredients, food coloring, and preservatives designed to keep a company rich and give you an unhealthy filler. Cheese should not come from a can... especially a can that is not refrigerated and has a "shelf life" of two years. Yet, many American's guzzle it.
Some urban dwellers may be influenced by professional cheesemongers, speciality shops, gourmet shops, and local TV shows. Urbanites are also impacted by Europeans who visit/immigrate to their areas and and talk about Parmigiano-Reggiano, Gouda, Morbier, and Stilton (which all achieved their nation's criteria for Protected Designation of Origin status). Resourceful people beyond cities can learn from online videos and websites... and their travels to cheesemaking destinations.
Rural residents probably appreciate artisanal cheese due to their proximity to farms/dairies/creameries.
Last week, Lewis and I popped into Murray's Cheese Shop on Bleecker Street. It is iconic and classic. Lewis has a penchant for firm cheese with crystal-like texture. In that regard, we like aged Gouda (from the city of the same name in the Netherlands, where it was invented) and Montgomery Cheddar (Cheddar was invented in England's Village of Cheddar). Thusly, we snapped up Sbrinz from Switzerland. It sounds like how a cartoon character would sneeze, but it's truly a marvelous selection!
You have to admire how Europeans mandate quality, and that their consumers demand it. Brainwashed (and brain-dead) Americans lazily settle for "cheese products" and "cheese spreads". They make industrial corporations rich, enabling those corporations to undermine/weaken small-batch cheesemakers across America.
They happily ingest industrial imitations, such as these...
Similar to Cheez Wiz, Velveeta is owned by Kraft Foods conglomerate and can only be classified as a "processed cheese product". Its ingredients include water, milk protein concentrate, four types of salt, and food coloring. That doesn't occur in South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, or India.
For example, Sbrinz is made according to unyielding specifications. By law, it must be aged at least 18 months. We bought one that was aged for 30 months!
The glory of their quality-assurance is superb, as they let it ripen for nearly 3 years before selling it. You get a full sweetly nutty experience when eating it. Other laws limit the distance the milk can be made from the producer... thus ensuring quality and freshness of milk. No trucked-in milk that needed to be fortified to survive the journey to a factory.
Legally, the milk must be raw, and it must come from cows eating grass in summer and hay in winter.
American cows are force-fed cornmeal, due to the powerful corn industry (hence so many foods full of corn-syrup, as seen in the ingredients list below).
By Swiss law, the cows making Sbrinz cannot be fed silage.
From Crete to Wales, most European countries produce high-quality cheese. Go try them; they're truly a mouth-watering experience.
Proper cheesemakers invest in handiwork and quality.
Proper cheesemongers help you find such quality. Give them your business/patronage. Keep the art alive.
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