Cottage cheese Cottage cheese Cottage cheese is a fresh cheese curd product with a mild flavor. The first known use of the term "cottage cheese" dates back to 1831. It is believed to have originated because the simple cheese was usually made in cottages from any milk left over after making butter. The ancient Mesopotamians made a type of salty, sour cheese very similar to cottage cheese that dates back to at least 3000 B.C. A common legend is that it was invented when a desert traveler filled his sheep stomach saddle bags with milk prior to beginning his journey. Cottage cheese
American cheese American cheese was often simply called "yellow cheese". Today’s American cheese is, by law, required to be manufactured from at least two types of cheese. Because its manufacturing process differs from "unprocessed" traditional cheeses, American cheese cannot be legally sold under the name (authentic) "cheese" in the US. Instead, federal laws mandate that it be labeled as "processed cheese" if simply made from combining more than one cheese, or "cheese food" if dairy ingredients such as cream, milk, skim milk, buttermilk, cheese whey, or albumin from cheese whey are added. As a result, sometimes even the "word" "cheese" is absent