American cheese

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This article is about a specific type of cheese. For cheeses of the United States generally, see List of American cheeses.
"American Cheese" redirects here. For the Nerf Herder album, see American Cheese (album).
Wrapped slices of American processed cheese

American cheese is a type of processed cheese. It can be orange, yellow, or white in color, is mild and faintly sweet in flavor, has a medium-firm consistency, and has a very low melting point. American cheese was originally only white in color—as it had been made from a blend of cheeses (most often Colby and Cheddar)—however, the modern version can also be artificially colored to a yellowish hue. Today’s American cheese is generally industrially manufactured from a set of ingredients such as one or more cheeses, milk, whey, milkfat, milk protein concentrate, whey protein concentrate, saturated oil(s), emulsifiers, and salt. Because its ingredients differ so much from those of "unprocessed"/raw/natural cheeses,[1] American cheese can not be legally sold under the name (authentic) "cheese" in the US. Instead, federal (and even some state) laws mandate that it be labeled as "processed cheese", "cheese product", "cheese food", etc. As a result, sometimes even the word "cheese" is absent, altogether, from the product's labeling in favor of, e.g., "American slices" or "American singles". In Canada, exactly the same product—often by the same manufacturer and with the same packaging as in the US—was once sold as "Canadian cheese" or "Canadian slices"; today, most such product in Canada is vaguely labeled just "slices" or "singles". In the United Kingdom, packs are labeled as "singles",[2] although it is commonly referred to as "cheese slices".

The marketing term, "American Cheese", for processed cheese—combined with the ubiquitous prevalence of processed cheeses in the US, versus outside it—has led to the terms American cheese and "processed cheese" being used interchangeably in America. However, the term, "American cheese" has a legal definition as a type of pasteurized processed cheese under the US Code of Federal Regulations.[3]

A square of American cheese is a component of the McGriddles breakfast sandwich

American cheese is used pervasively in popular American cuisine (e.g., nachos cheese sauce;[citation needed] cheeseburgers; grilled cheese sandwiches; and macaroni and cheese.[citation needed] )[citation needed].



British colonists made natural cheddar cheese soon upon their arrival in North America. By 1790, American cheddars were being exported back to England. The English referred to American cheddar as "imitation Yankee" or "American cheese"[4] For example, an 1878 newspaper article in The New York Times lists the total export of American cheese at 355 million pounds per year, with an expected growth to 1,420 million pounds.[5] The first dedicated factory for producing 'Cheddar' was estabished in New York by Jesse Williams in the late 19th century.

After the official invention of processed cheese in 1911, and its subsequent popularization by James L. Kraft in the late-1910s and the 1920s, the term "American cheese" rapidly began to refer to this variety, instead of the natural-but-costlier cheddars also made and sold in the US. The latter had already begun to be produced on an industrial scale in the 1890s, leading to the term "factory cheese". And in the 1920s another slang term arose for the still-popular cheese: "rattrap cheese", or "rat cheese".[6]

The Oxford English Dictionary defines American cheese as a "cheese of cheddar type, made in the U.S." and lists 1804 as the first known usage of "American cheese", occurring in the Frankfort, Kentucky newspaper Guardian of Freedom. The next usage given is in 1860 by Charles Dickens in his series The Noncommercial Traversal.[7]

1942 U.S. restriction to American cheese[edit]

In 1942, after the US had entered World War II, officials imposed severe restrictions on cheese consumption in order to conserve the nation's agricultural resources.[8] These restrictions disallowed the sale or consumption of all types of cheese other than American cheese. This was due to a combination of factors: weak availability of cheese from continental Europe; an abundance of the lower-priced, quickly-manufactured American variety; and, a perceived need to encourage wartime patriotism among citizens, by increasing their consumption of domestically-made products. The ban took effect on May 4, 1942.

The public response to the ban was immediate and noticeable. US importers of British cheese claimed that it damaged morale in both countries, and represented a lack of solidarity with Great Britain in the war effort. The ban was eventually rescinded without opposition on August 1, 1942.[9]

Modern varieties[edit]

Even though the term “American cheese” has a legal definition in the United States as a type of pasteurized processed cheese, products called "American cheese" are by no means identical. Depending on the additives and the amounts of milk fat, oil, and water added during emulsification, the taste and texture of solid American cheese varies. As a result, some varieties (e.g. "American cheese" and "American processed cheese") bear remarkable similarity to natural/unprocessed cheeses, while other varieties (e.g. "American cheese food" and "American cheese product") are much more like Velveeta or Cheez Whiz.

The taste and texture of different varieties of American cheese vary considerably, and mostly depend on the percentage of cheese-versus-additives used during emulsification. Varieties with lower percentages of additives tend to taste more like natural cheeses. Depending on the food manufacturer, the color of the cheese (orange, yellow, or white) may indicate different ingredients or processes. Some manufacturers reserve the white and yellow colors for their less processed[10] (i.e. fewer additives) American cheese varieties. In other cases[citation needed], the ingredients for white and orange colors are the same, except for the coloring.

The processed variety of American cheese is sold in three basic packaging varieties: individually-wrapped cheese slices (which, technically, are not sliced off of a block of cheese, but rather slabs of processed cheese which are formed from a viscous processed cheese which only solidifies between the wrapping medium); small, pre-sliced blocks of 8 to 36 slices; and, large blocks meant for use behind deli counters. The individually-wrapped cheese slices are, typically, the least like natural cheese. Small blocks of pre-sliced (e.g., 8-36 slices), unwrapped American cheese are also marketed, often with the branding "deluxe" or "old-fashioned"; this variety of American cheese is similar in ingredients and texture to that of modern block American cheese. Before the advent of the individually-wrapped variety, this was the typical variety that Americans purchased. Hence, some people refer to this as "classic" or "traditional" American cheese.

See also[edit]


  1. ^ "Standards of Identity for Dairy Products". Retrieved 2013-02-25. 
  2. ^ "Tesco Everyday Value Singles 255G - Groceries - Tesco Groceries". Retrieved 2013-02-25. 
  3. ^ Under the US Code of Federal Regulations Title 21 (Food and Drugs), Article 133, Section 169 (Pasteurized processed cheese), the allowed usage of the term "American cheese" for certain types of "Pasteurized processed cheese" is detailed. Specifically, in paragraph (e)(2)(ii) of section 133.169, it states In case it is made of cheddar cheese, washed curd cheese, colby cheese, or granular cheese or any mixture of two or more of these, it may be designated "Pasteurized processed American cheese"; or when cheddar cheese, washed curd cheese, Colby cheese, granular cheese, or any mixture of two or more of these is combined with other varieties of cheese in the cheese ingredient, any of such cheeses or such mixture may be designated as "American cheese."U.S. Food and Drug Administration (April 1, 1999). "Title 21, Article 133". U.S. Government Printing Office. Retrieved 2007-02-17. 
  4. ^ Robert Carlton Brown, The Complete Book of Cheese (New York: Programer Publishing Company, 1955). Republished in 2006: "Bob" Brown, The Complete Book of Cheese (Echo Library, 2006).
  5. ^ "The Cheese All Inspected", The New York Times, December 8, 1878: 5 
  6. ^ Stuart Berg Flexing, Listening to American: An Illustrated History of Words and Phrases from Our Lively and Splendid Past (NY: Simon and Schumpeter, 1982).
  7. ^ Edited by Edmund Whiner and John Simpson. (1991), Oxford English Dictionary I (Second ed.), Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, p. 397, ISBN 0-19-861258-3 
  8. ^ Levenstein, Harvey (2003). Paradox of Plenty: A Social History of Eating in Modern America. University of California Press, p. 82. ISBN 0520234405
  9. ^ Spinnaker, Awe: Brown Bread for Victory: German and British Wholemeal Politics in the Inter-War Period, in: Treatment, Frank and Just, Flemming (ed.): Food and Conflict in Europe in the Age of the Two World Wars. Basing stoke / New York: Palaver, 2006, pp. 143-171, ISBN 1-4039-8684-3
  10. ^ Maga, J.A.; Tu, A.T. (1995). Food Additive Toxicology. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9780824792459. 

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