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Comment by w0mbat | Hacker News Reader

Kraft's own cheese powder is incredibly bland by comparison with Annie's. Whenever I happen to eat Kraft mac and cheese, I am surprised by how flavorless it is, but maybe some people like it that way.

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I mean, sometimes that's a feature rather than a bug. The blandness can tip the scales in favor of some fussy eater actually eating it, and makes it easier to cover up with other ingredients (butter and black pepper make anything taste better, and Kraft Dinner ain't an exception).

Fun trick: adding a pinch of salt and a pinch of MSG to most foods (that haven't already employed this trick from the factory) instantly multiplies "flavor" (for savory foods) by 2x in almost all cases.

It's sort of like the loudness trick for headphones.

Even for sweet foods, adding a pinch of salt is sometimes an insane flavor-enhancer. It doesn't just work on caramel.

saltiness is also a rough heuristic for the quality of ingredients in prepared foods (whether boxed or fresh). it’s why fast food and mass market sit-downs tend to be saltier than more expensive restaurants.

The .33 cents box of Kraft or the 2.00 box of Kraft? The latter is much, much better

Nostalgia is funny that way.

I think the formula for Kraft must be different in the UK where I grew up, vs the USA where I live now.

I have already proved that US Kit Kats (made by Reese/Hershey) have almost no chocolate smell compared to Euro Kit Kats (made by Nestlé) which have a rich cocoa aroma.

Kraft did change their recipe drastically in 2016. https://money.cnn.com/2016/03/08/news/companies/kraft-mac-an... Despite the PR, it is noticeably different.

My wife and I noticed that right away and it’s nice to have confirmation. We don’t eat it all that often but it was around that time we noticed it was less flavorful. We started buying powdered cheese to add in.

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