WEBVTT - BrainStuff Classics: What Is American Cheese Really Made Of?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff from How Stuff Works. Hey, brain Stuff,

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<v Speaker 1>Lauren boke obam Here, I've got something a little bit

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<v Speaker 1>different for you today, a classic episode of brain Stuff.

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<v Speaker 1>This is one performed by our prior host, Christian Saga,

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<v Speaker 1>with the original script written by me. What is what

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<v Speaker 1>is American cheese really made of? Hey, brain stuff, Christian Sagar? Here?

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<v Speaker 1>Humans have been making cheese for at least seven thousand years.

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<v Speaker 1>It is, after all, an efficient and tasty way to

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<v Speaker 1>preserve nutritious milk beyond its normal lifespan. But cheese can

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<v Speaker 1>be expensive, inconsistent from batch to batch in some varieties

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<v Speaker 1>don't last a whole lot longer than milk, and have

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<v Speaker 1>you ever tried cooking with it? Let's say you want

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<v Speaker 1>to make nacho dip. Everybody wants to make nacho dip.

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<v Speaker 1>But when you heat regular cheese, the fats can melt

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<v Speaker 1>away from the rest of the cheese solids, leaving you

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<v Speaker 1>with a pool of oil and a lumpy, stringy mess.

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<v Speaker 1>Enter processed cheese, of which American cheese is a particular type.

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<v Speaker 1>This stuff is consistent by design, has a longer shelf life,

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<v Speaker 1>and is usually cheaper than natural cheese. While melting like

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<v Speaker 1>a dream. But how what arcane science imbued natural cheese

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<v Speaker 1>with such unnatural properties. Well, here in the United States,

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<v Speaker 1>the f d A is crafted an exhaustively specific legal

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<v Speaker 1>definition of processed cheese. The short version is that it's

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<v Speaker 1>a type of food made by pulverizing, heating, and mixing

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<v Speaker 1>actual cheese of one or more types with an emulsifier

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<v Speaker 1>into a homogeneous plastic mass. That's plastic as in the

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<v Speaker 1>physical definition, i e. A substance easily shaped or molded.

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<v Speaker 1>Processed cheese isn't actually made of plastic, but it can

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<v Speaker 1>contain water, salt, artificial color, flat rings in a very

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<v Speaker 1>long list of chemicals that would bore you to tears

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<v Speaker 1>on a podcast. The key to process cheese smoothness is

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<v Speaker 1>the emulsifying agents. And emulsion is a mixture of two

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<v Speaker 1>liquids that don't usually mix, like oil and water. No

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<v Speaker 1>matter how hard you stir or shake them together, they'll

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<v Speaker 1>separate back out. But emulsifiers make the two play nice

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<v Speaker 1>chemically speaking. That's because they interact with both liquids, grabbing

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<v Speaker 1>globules of one and suspending them evenly throughout the other.

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<v Speaker 1>Cheese and milk, for that matter, is made up of

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<v Speaker 1>fats and fat soluble substances, plus a solution of water

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<v Speaker 1>soluble proteins and minerals. The added emulsifiers keep them blended

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<v Speaker 1>together even when they're heated. The other optional ingredients are

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<v Speaker 1>texture and flavor enhancers, preservatives, and cheese making shortcuts designed

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<v Speaker 1>to speed the manufacturing process along. It's science cheese, everybody,

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<v Speaker 1>But as long as the finished cheese has moisture, fat,

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<v Speaker 1>and pH levels that closely resemble those of its actual

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<v Speaker 1>cheese ingredients, the stuff can legally be called quote pasteurized

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<v Speaker 1>processed cheese, and if it's made from cheddar, washed curd,

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<v Speaker 1>colby or granular cheese, it can be called American cheese.

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<v Speaker 1>But you may have noticed some extra words creeping in

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<v Speaker 1>on labels, dubbing the stuff pasteurized processed cheese, food, or

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<v Speaker 1>spread or product. Those designations indicate that other ingredients have

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<v Speaker 1>been put in that reduce the amount of actual cheese

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<v Speaker 1>in the finished food. Cheese food can contain additional milk,

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<v Speaker 1>skim milk, buttermilk and cheese whey. These lower the cost

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<v Speaker 1>and increase the meltiness. And that's not a real word,

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<v Speaker 1>but cheese food must have moisture, fat and pH levels

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<v Speaker 1>that are close to natural cheese and cheese product can

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<v Speaker 1>throw those rules right out the window, and cheese spread

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<v Speaker 1>may have added moisture sweeteners, starches, and moisture binding gums

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<v Speaker 1>or hydrochloids to optimize spread ability. All of these creations

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<v Speaker 1>are required to consist of at least cheese. Today's episode

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<v Speaker 1>was produced by Tyler Clang. I wanted to share this

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<v Speaker 1>one with you because it's one of my old favorites

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<v Speaker 1>and I went on an entire cheese obsession month after

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<v Speaker 1>writing it. It was written for our video series of

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<v Speaker 1>brain Stuff, which appeared on YouTube where it was performed

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<v Speaker 1>by Jonathan Strickland. If you would like to hear a

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<v Speaker 1>little bit more about cheese, I have a whole show

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<v Speaker 1>about food that also kind of developed after my cheese

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<v Speaker 1>obsession called food Stuff available wherever you find your podcasts.

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<v Speaker 1>For more on this and lots of other thoroughly processed topics,

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<v Speaker 1>visit our home planet, how Stuff works dot com. M