Expert: Mary Hughes-Cole - 5/10/2003

Question
I wonder if you can tell me the difference between American cheese and cheddar cheese? I can't tell the difference in taste. Thank you very much. Al Brown  

Answer
Hello Al,   
  Many People cannot tell the difference between things.  This taste test is not the real way to determine the quality of something, the origin of the ingredients and the processing would be more important.  Many countries like Holland where some of the finest cheeses are made, have cows that have always grazed on natural soil which has never had pesticides added, their soil has enough cold to kill many organisms that would otherwise be alive and found in the milk which is what cheese is made from.  Same thing holds true in countries like Germany and Switzerland.  In this country, we do not have this advantage nor, the advantage of thousands of years of experience in developing cheese nor the proper climate for the cheese to age properly, so the end result, may require changes in processing that could affect the end result.  You may not be able to taste the difference but maybe you are not actually comparing it to one of these, kind of cheeses.  A real cheese coinsure probably would not even consider eating anything but one of these real cheeses as they are referred to in these kind of circles.  Personally I do not eat cheese, I have found that it causes men to snore and get fat and causes so much mucus that asthma occurs.  Maybe this would not happen if I lived in the Swiss Mountains and ate their cheese.  Hope I have given you some in-sight thank you for your question.  Mary