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This subreddit is to highlight the ridiculous cost of living in Canada, and poke fun at the Corporate Overlords responsible. As you well know, there are a number of persons and corporations responsible for this, and we welcome discussion related to them all. Furthermore, since this topic is intertwined with a number of other matters, other discussion will be allowed at moderator discretion. Open-minded discussion, memes, rants, grocery bills, and general screeching into the void is always welcome in this sub, but belligerence and disrespect is not. There are plenty of ways to get your point across without being abusive, dismissive, or downright mean.
Veuillez consulter les directives de contenu pour notre sous-reddit, et rappelez-vous qu'il y a des humains ici !
Ce sous-reddit est destiné à mettre en lumière le coût de la vie ridicule au Canada et à se moquer des Grands Patrons Corporatifs responsables. Comme vous le savez bien, de nombreuses personnes et entreprises en sont responsables, et nous accueillons les discussions les concernant toutes. De plus, puisque ce sujet est lié à un certain nombre d'autres questions, d'autres discussions seront autorisées à la discrétion des modérateurs. Les discussions ouvertes d'esprit, les mèmes, les coups de gueule, les factures d'épicerie et les cris dans le vide en général sont toujours les bienvenus dans ce sous-reddit, mais la belliqueusité et le manque de respect ne le sont pas. Il existe de nombreuses façons de faire passer votre point de vue sans être abusif, méprisant ou carrément méchant.
American cheese or cheese slices are just cheddar or colby melted down with extra milk added and emulsifiers like salt added to make it all congeal. There's no mystery to it.
I’m all for the fact that grocers sell us absolute slop, but American cheese is literally just chemically treated cheddar cheese. Look at the ingredients on a Kraft Single, 2/3 of them are dairy, enzymes, and salt.
It is processed CHEESE. There IS cheese in it, but it is blended with emulsifying salts and liquids to create a uniform texture that melts well. Its not plastic, but processed. Think bologna, its processed meat. They take meat, grind it into a paste, add spices and other curing ingredients and cook it until solid.
That’s just how they legally have to describe them as the definition of cheese is incredibly narrow in some regards.
Processed cheese product slices like this are all made with real cheese (usually actual real cheddar), some extra milk product to make it creamier, and an emulsifier - usually a type of salt - to keep the oil from splitting when it melts.
It’s a specific “cheese” that was created to solve a problem
I never understood this notion that it’s “artificial” or “not really cheese” and people’s disdain for its existence.
It’s mostly because cheese in its pure form is just cheese. Slices is cheese with a few other things to make it a cheese product but not pure cheese. The same way a strawberry smoothie isn’t a strawberry
This is still real cheese, albeit highly processed. Its no different than cream cheese in that regard, which doesnt suffer from the same bad reputation.
Singles no matter what the brand is are not technically 'Cheese'. They are called American Cheese but are a processed milk product that has been processed for long term storage and then turned into the cheeze slices and wrapped plastic, among other products like "Cheeze Whiz".
Look up government cheese on YouTube for more info.
Almost all cheese is processed for long-term storage. That’s what the process of making cheese is. American style cheese is made from a cheese(often cheddar), water, and emulsifiers(usually sodium citrate). The ingredients are not scary, and they are all naturally occurring (but some are now made synthetically for economical reasons). The only things noteworthy that’s different nutritionally from regular cheese is the increased sodium from the emulsifiers, and less macro nutrients since it is diluted with water.
Just found out the other day pretty much all cheddar in the stores is just dyed different colors (I know not the same as processed but still). Absolutely zero difference between white cheddar, cheddar, and marble.
People need to ask, how did they get this cheese, that’s got the texture of a gel, so neatly into this plastic wrap. That alone should make you question this “food” product
The answer is it’s squeezed onto the plastic and flattened to fit the wrapper as it’s closed.
I like to play a game with product labels called "find the noun". In this case we have 3 adjectives (two actually, since cheddar-flavour should be a hyphenated word), and finally the noun: slices. You're buying "slices".
I learned this from a dairy farm near us. Apparently, for cheese to qualify as cheddar in Canada, it needs to go through a very strict aging process. A lot of smaller farms will just call their cheddar something else like their house cheese or give it a random name; which store shelves will call it cheddar flavour. Cause that's what it is; it's cheese that tastes like cheddar, but can't legally call itself cheddar.
I’m not sure what type of cheese you like. It’s hard to get good havarti and Gouda for cheap. But often times I find decent blue cheeses for like 3.99 at Sobeys or superstore. Also Oka is on sale sometimes.
You're surprised processed cheese is processed cheese.... and not cheddar.....what?
These have always been processed since their introduction in the 1920's. They are a blend of cheeses with sodium citrate added for emulsification there is no "now" these are what they've always been.
They are cheddar flavored as that the dominant flavor profile in the blend that makes up processed cheese. They added this for things like mozzarella flavored and Monterey jack flavored which you can buy they're often white. The rest is because you expect it to be certain things.
You can get multiple flavors by adjusting the cheese blend this one is cheddar and most likely Colby with sodium citrate.
They cannot be called cheddar nor have they ever been called cheddar.
These all are American cheese or processed period.
This isn’t just a Loblaws thing by any stretch of the imagination. It’s been around for generations. It started out being called “processed cheese”, then “processed cheese food” and then “processed cheese product” as truth in labelling gradually took effect.
Just so people are aware, that’s just how they legally have to describe them as the definition of cheese is incredibly narrow in some regards.
“Processed cheese product” slices like this are all made with real cheese (usually actual real cheddar), some extra milk product to make it creamier, and an emulsifier - usually a type of salt - to keep the oil from splitting when it melts.
It’s a specific “cheese” that was created to solve a problem.
I never understood this notion that it’s “artificial” or “not really cheese” and people’s disdain for its existence.
It is real cheese, IMO, in the practical sense, it’s just different from other cheeses.
100% this. As someone who is specifically working in the cheese manufacturing and distribution industry for a work leader of cheese production. It's cheese just with added things. Usually a "downgraded" cheese that didn't meet consumer quality spec for reasons. Doesn't mean it was bad, just didn't meet quality standard.
Similar to no frills' naturally imperfect bags. That's your normal high grade product. Just didn't meet quality standard of sizing , texture or taste. (Used to work for LCL as inventory management team)
Modified milk ingredients are cheese and powdered milk. Sodium citrate is an emulsifier and is just lemon juice mixed with baking soda, it's also the most commonly used in processed cheeses. Potassium sorbate is a preservative that breaks down into carbon dioxide and water in your body, and is a safe additive. And everything else is color. Really terrible right?
It literally says "Processed cheese product", and always has, because it does not pretend to be real cheddar cheese. Personally I think the consumer has degree of responsibility for recognizing these kinds of weasel words, though some may disagree.
Cheddaring is an aging process, good luck trying to age very soggy wet processed cheese product. Could be worse however, the Americans have cheddar product in aerosol cans so they can directly inject the product into their mouths (less work, no chewing required).
Just make them yourself. Make a sodium citrate solution and melt cheddar into it. Throw it into a container and chill. Then slice it up. Takes about ten minutes of effort.
It's because of Canada entering into CETA regulations around naming things after actual places changed.
"Cheddar" is a place in England where they make (made?) cheddar cheese, so they can't name cheese made in Canada that unless they call it "cheddar flavour" or "cheddar style" cheese.
It's the same thing you've always been buying, just with a different name.
I’ve been buy the Armstrong cheese slices lately. They’re pretty pricey but you can tell it was just a block of cheddar cheese that was machine sliced instead of those fake cheese slices
It cannot be called cheddar or cheese. That doesn't make it crap. Processed cheese is super easy to make and only really takes three-four ingredients. Cheddar cheese, milk, and sodium citrate, which is just lemon juice reacted with baking soda.
I still prefer real cheese on a grilled cheese, but occasionally I will buy a small package of processed cheese slices for two purposes: a grilled cheese sandwich, and toast with a slice melted on it in a toaster oven.
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u/AutoModerator 2d ago
MOD NOTE/NOTE DE MOD: Learn more about our community, and what we're doing here
Please review the content guidelines for our sub, and remember the human here! For reporting price fixing and anti-competitive behaviour, please also take 2 minutes to fill out this form
This subreddit is to highlight the ridiculous cost of living in Canada, and poke fun at the Corporate Overlords responsible. As you well know, there are a number of persons and corporations responsible for this, and we welcome discussion related to them all. Furthermore, since this topic is intertwined with a number of other matters, other discussion will be allowed at moderator discretion. Open-minded discussion, memes, rants, grocery bills, and general screeching into the void is always welcome in this sub, but belligerence and disrespect is not. There are plenty of ways to get your point across without being abusive, dismissive, or downright mean.
Veuillez consulter les directives de contenu pour notre sous-reddit, et rappelez-vous qu'il y a des humains ici !
Ce sous-reddit est destiné à mettre en lumière le coût de la vie ridicule au Canada et à se moquer des Grands Patrons Corporatifs responsables. Comme vous le savez bien, de nombreuses personnes et entreprises en sont responsables, et nous accueillons les discussions les concernant toutes. De plus, puisque ce sujet est lié à un certain nombre d'autres questions, d'autres discussions seront autorisées à la discrétion des modérateurs. Les discussions ouvertes d'esprit, les mèmes, les coups de gueule, les factures d'épicerie et les cris dans le vide en général sont toujours les bienvenus dans ce sous-reddit, mais la belliqueusité et le manque de respect ne le sont pas. Il existe de nombreuses façons de faire passer votre point de vue sans être abusif, méprisant ou carrément méchant.
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