Those engineers always trying to fix or improve stuff...
But it's a living!

nice blog!

Oh lovely another protein to trigger allergies in new and suprising ways.

I feel weird agreeing with Amare, since I am currently deconstruction the Organic Consumer Associations argument against the food additives that are allowed in processed foods with the USDA Certified Organic label, but, well, I do agree.

Some things are best left unmonkeyed with.

And besides, as Kate says, Kraft Parmesan sucks anyway, so it doesn't matter how long or short a time it takes to make the stuff.

ICK.

I gotta say, Kraft Parmesan cheese doesn't taste like Parmigiano-Reggiano, and Parmigiano-Reggiano tastes great -- but I also like Kraft Parmesan. They're just different things.

I recently bought a block of some Italian cheese -- whose name I can't remember, wish I had written it down -- that described itself on the label as being made using the techniques of Parmigiano-Reggiano, and it tasted pretty much like Parmigiano-Reggiano, but was the same price per gram as Kraft Parmesan cheese.

I think this sort of thing is great: let the cheese makers (and other regionally branded food products) have their protected names, but allow others to clone the stuff as close as they can and explicitly name what they are attempting to copy on the label, as long as there are no unreasonable claims being made and as long as it is clear that it is not the "real thing."

When I bought that cheese, I knew it would probably not be an exact copy, but I was intrigued by the price, and I know intellectually that that food science has reached the point that there are no big secrets out there any more, and any food can be 95% copied -- and that's usually good enough.

By the way, in Japan where I live, various dairies in Hokkaido -- a big dairy region -- make camembert cheese, and it's labelled Hokkaido Camembert. Nobody confuses it with French Camembert, which is also available in the markets. The Hokkaido stuff is cheaper, of course, and it does taste different. But it's pretty good, in its own way. In fact, I like it better than the French stuff, which is a little too close to eating a stick of butter to me.

Just say NO to Frankenfoods!

I will never buy any kind of pregrated cheese again, the last can or what it comes in with the sprinkle system, all the cheese inside was green and moldy, and yes, it was from Kraft. Just horrible. Now, I only buy the chunk cheese that I grate myself. At least now I know what I am getting. These companies are just rip offs and they are getting worse by adding all other stuff ecept the real stuff that one thinks they are buying. Where does it end? I do not buy any kind of can goods, if I cannot see whats inside, forget it.

Once again I was forced to purchase a wedge of domestic"parmesan" cheese. I knew ahead of time that the cheese would suck and turn to rubber in the bottom of my pan as I made the sauce (alfredo), which it did. The store had no imported cheese and was out of the good old green kraft shaker jars. (note: kraft parm cheese is gross but it blends well in a cream sauce, so I use it for such) I prefer to use a combination of imported reggiano and gross kraft shaker can cheese for Alfredo sauce. Anyways, the issue I wish to raise here is: why!!?, why do domestic cheese makers produce such an awful product and call it cheese?

> why do domestic cheese makers produce such
> an awful product and call it cheese?

Because the masses don't know better?

Safeway here has "local" Gauda and imported one. The important one has a "rougher" texture and a very distinctive taste, actually a whole range of tastes.

The domestic stuff? Well, it taste like all of their cheeses, meaning, like nothing :(

I agree that there is nothing like the real thing. The problem is not that kraft dried, grated white cheese (lets not call it what it is not) is bad. It is what it is,and it is good for certain things. Its cheap and keeps a long time. You dont use it for the same things you use the real thing for. Sometimes you make a a really good dish with the best ingredients,sometimes you grab a slice of pizza from the place on the corner thats only redeeming quality is it delivers and its close. Throw some kraft on it,and some red pepper,its pretty good.

On the other hand,sometimes you make a pizza yourself,with the perfect sourdough crust,orange bell peppers,homemade mozzarella and sauce made from fresh tomatoes from your plants in the back yard. You certainly wouldn't put anything with a kraft label anywhere near that.

Kate, I used to agree with you that Kraft Parmesan Cheese didn't taste anything like Parmigiano-Reggiano. (I actually kind of like the Kraft cheese, but I thought it tasted really different.)

However, a recent experience has changed my mind. Here in Japan a company named Chesco is responsible for importing much of the good cheese into the country. But Kraft Parmesan Cheese, manufactured in the U.S. and imported, holds a huge market share for so-called "spaghetti cheese," as the Japanese call parmesan cheese.

Recently Chesco decided to go after Kraft by grating real, honest-to-god Parmigiano-Reggiano and packaging it in Kraft-like cylinders. Guess what? It tastes exactly the same. Score one for food science and frankenfoods. I have the two companies' cylinders right here by my keyboard as I type.

It turns out that if you grate the cheese very finely in the way that Kraft does, and which is rarely done at home to Parmigiano-Reggiano, it tastes the same (the saltiness is more apparent, for instance). If you use a hand-crank grater, you get strings of cheese, which end up tasting different on your tongue.

The sole ingredient for both products is "natural cheese," so neither has any preservatives or other ingredients, at least any that the Japanese labeling laws require to be disclosed.

So there you go.