A lot of cheese is manufactured, some of it even colored orange artificially (especially in the US), which is labelled 'Cheddar' but in reality is nothing at all like a true cheddar.
(And then of course, there are those tasteless pale, plastic rubbery sheets labelled 'Kraft Cheddar Slices'.)
Natural cheese at most has a yellowish color (like butter, though a lot of that is also colored -- and again has been for a very long time).
"Cheddaring" is a process (most famously used in the Cheddar region of England, but not exclusive to there), referring to kneading salt into the raw cheese curds.
It's not a protected designation, nor is there any real difference between the way cheddar cheese is made in England and the way it's made in other countries.
https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-21/chapter-I/subchapter-B...
One or more of the clotting enzymes specified in paragraph (b)(2) of this section is added to set the dairy ingredients to a semisolid mass. The mass is so cut, stirred, and heated with continued stirring, as to promote and regulate the separation of whey and curd. The whey is drained off, and the curd is matted into a cohesive mass. The mass is cut into slabs, which are so piled and handled as to promote the drainage of whey and the development of acidity. The slabs are then cut into pieces, which may be rinsed by sprinkling or pouring water over them, with free and continuous drainage; but the duration of such rinsing is so limited that only the whey on the surface of such pieces is removed. The curd is salted, stirred, further drained, and pressed into forms.
And?
I've had cheddar cheese in the UK. I've had cheddar cheese in the US that was imported from Cheddar England. I've had cheddar cheese in the US that was made in the US. I have absolutely no idea what all the hand-wringing is about. What's wrong with American cheddar? Is there some sub-par brand out there that is sold in the majority of grocery stores in coastal America but not in the grocery stores in middle America? Are we just up in arms because some brands add some coloring to it?
Just to be clear to non-Americans, we don't think that "cheese products" are real cheese. There are a number of welfare programs that help low-income Americans buy food; for example WIC [1]. If you take your WIC card to a grocery store and scan it in, the grocery store computer system will refuse to sell you "cheese products". You are not allowed to use government money to buy fake cheese! The computer will beep at you, the store clerk will say "sorry, you can't buy this, it's not real cheese", you will be embarrassed, and you will never, ever, ever make that mistake again!
There are enough people who buy that stuff (or else nobody would manufacture it). But it isn't because they are confused and think it is cheese.
Having lived in the US, the cheddar there isn’t the same. I’d offer that I never had good cheese in the US outside of imported stuff.
"You can't get good ____ in the US!"
Which might be true if you only ever shop at a supermarket or your only exposure to food in the US is a meme, Hollywood production, or the crappy nonsensical 'American' aisles you have in your respective countries.
As a beer drinker, Heineken was the only beer I’d buy (note I lived in NL) though there was a microbrewery by the Boca mall that was ok.
I also lived in BE so I’ve experience with chocolate. I am English though. At the time, Godiva was considered good in the US.
> Having lived in the US, the cheddar there isn’t the same.
Which "cheddar"? The budget Kraft stuff? Higher-end stuff like Tillamook? Artisanal cheddars, of which there are many?
Which is really weird to me in the UK - Cheddar here (including stuff from the town of Cheddar!) is almost universally yellow.
[1] https://www.bonappetit.com/story/why-is-cheddar-cheese-orang...
As an american with enough laps around the sun to have some experience, I'm constantly aghast with what we've allowed to happen to food.
And you're wrong about "yellow cows", in a way. Cheddar was first made in the village of Cheddar in Somerset, England, and the milk did have high levels of beta-carotene because of the local breeds eating the local grass. The original cheddar was yellow without anybody adding coloring at all.
... what?
[1] https://www.seriouseats.com/whats-really-in-american-cheese
Oh? Interesting.
> An Italian academic has caused more than a stir after saying the recipe for carbonara is American and the only place in the world to find bona fide parmesan cheese nowadays is Wisconsin.
> Alberto Grandi, a professor of food history at the University of Parma, made the remarks in an interview with the Financial Times.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/mar/27/italian-academ...
Of course, the media are more interested in controversy, so they turn that into "bona fide parmesan cheese only exists in Wisconsin".