Cannot find American Cheese!

[tennessee_anomaly]

Cabot Vermont cheese

Not trying to hijack the thread about American Cheese - but, if you like REALLY flavorful cheese, you should try the Cabot Vermont brand. It comes in 8 oz. blocks - several different flavors. My three favorites are:

1. Tuscany - a flavorful white cheddar with a crust around the entire block

2. Seriously Sharp - a concentrated white cheddar with a distinctly sharp aroma that WILL have you asking who cut the cheese.

3. Hot Habanero - this is the one I really like - not for the faint of heart. Habanero peppers dot this block of white cheddar throughout. You can't be a wimp and eat this - but, MAN, does it have great flavor. Just don't let your 83-year old mother-in-law get hold of it, like mine did. Or, maybe you should at that. Ha Ha

[tutone63]

This has nothing to do with cheese, but a possible addition to the lack of "America" in food brands. I remember there was a time when Oreo's slogan on their boz was "Americas favorite cookie" Now it is "Milks favorite cookie" I once though I was mistaken thinking that "milk" used to be "America" Until I went to a secondhand store and found a plastic oreo jar with the old slogan on it. Makes you wonder....

[Jim B PEI]

Interesting thread. I'm sure johnnyw is not off the wall, because I can remember as a child that we got American cheese sometimes on our annual summertime peregrination from Ontario to Maine, and points east, and it wasn't the processed cheese slices, but came in block form as a 'real cheese', not some Velveta wannabe. My dad was an engineer who had grown up on a dairy farm (Ayrshire & Jersey) and he had a deep appreciation for cheeses and other locally made products. He thought that it was not a patch on an aged edam, Mueunster, Oka or a 5 or 10 year old cheddar, but he agreed that it made for a nice topping with some onion to a freshly grilled hamburger at our evening campouts on the way, especially for the kids who still had to develop their palette. Of course, he would be buying serious cheddar for his own taste in Vermont, and the deep orange American for us. I recall that it was less hard than the orange Cheddar and a bit more soft crumbly, and yes it tasted something like Cheddar or Colby, or both mixed. Haven't seen it for a long time, but I haven't been looking for it.

To followup on tutone63's lament, from my point of view I was deeply disappointed to discover that "Canada Dry" ginger ale wasn't Canadian, and wasn't even all that good as a ginger ale--it certainly wasn't all that 'dry' and it was certainly way too sweet. Pure Spring was my fav, and some of those long vanished products from New England, like Birch Beer.

[mausersmth]

Birch Beer! I need a road trip!
There are a couple local bottlers I know of that still do a fine job of making birch beer. Kutztown Soda Works, Kutztown, PA and Boylan Bottling Co. in NJ. Both have websites, I used to sell their products locally, and I need to refill my private stash!
Now I need to find a few local cheese makers!

[raoul5788]

I'm partial to Limburger, myself.

You and Jerome Horowitz! Woo woo woo wooo!!!

[Chris Pile]

IThey have plenty of cheese in French supermarkets (more in this one medium sized store than any WalMart Supercenter)

I think it was Charles DeGaulle who said, "How can you govern a country which makes 276 kinds of cheese?".

[bob40]

Cady Wi. Cady Cheese.http://www.cadycheese.com/ Nice place right off I-94 plus they ship.The link below is a list of cheeses.

http://fileresource.sitepro.com/filemanager/216/filecollections/1214/7837B96A-08B5-6D90-EBC3-EB9295F5A2F5.pdf

They list American Brick
As for myself I am partial to the Roasted Garlic Jack or the Horseradish Jack.

[Bob Bryant]

Not trying to hijack the thread about American Cheese - but, if you like REALLY flavorful cheese, you should try the Cabot Vermont brand. It comes in 8 oz. blocks - several different flavors. Our three favorites are:
2. Seriously Sharp - a concentrated white cheddar with a distinctly sharp aroma that WILL have you asking who cut the cheese.

Agree with your assessment, as we have two blocks of Cabot which was your #2 in the fridge now.

All of the cheese depts. of stores here have American cheese, but it always mentions it as cheese food, processed cheese , or processed cheese food somewhere on the label. The other cheeses do not have that designation added. The manufacturing process and/or ingredients must be different from the other cheeses. It is recalled that trucks used to pick up milk at the dairy farms in NE IN for delivery to County Line Cheese. That company was acquired and moved from IN to WI.

[mausersmth]

Cady Wi. Cady Cheese.http://www.cadycheese.com/ Nice place right off I-94 plus they ship.The link below is a list of cheeses.

http://fileresource.sitepro.com/filemanager/216/filecollections/1214/7837B96A-08B5-6D90-EBC3-EB9295F5A2F5.pdf

They list American Brick
As for myself I am partial to the Roasted Garlic Jack or the Horseradish Jack.

Don't confuse American Brick with American!
Brick cheese is a bacteria aged cheese, often called 'The Married Man's Limburger'. It uses the same process as Limburger, but is milder (and less smelly!)

American slices are listed, as they should be, under Processed Cheese.

[Johnnywiffer]

Talking about cheese reminded me of a 1946 headline in The Daily Gate City, the Keokuk Iowa newspaper.

100th Anniversary of the Great Mormon Migration blared the headline

I lived across the river in Hamilton, IllinoisGreat River Road

But in September of that year, impatient to drive the remainder of the Mormons from Nauvoo, a belligerent political party known as the Anti-Mormon Party marshaled their forces and attacked the city that now had only the poorest and weakest Mormons and approximately 200 new citizens. A full-scale battle ensued, with cannon, rifle and musket called into use. After two days of battle, a peace delegation from Quincy, (Remember? Hemmings Motor News started there?) arranged the terms of surrender for the City of Nauvoo. Given just an hour to pack what belongings they could, most of the remaining Mormons were forced from Nauvoo at the point of a bayonet. Yes, folks this happened in America!

A very few Mormons stayed behind for a time, risking their lives in an attempt to sell Mormon property for something approaching a fair price. But eventually, tho some was sold for pennies on the dollar, most was abandoned. After all, why buy it when you could wait a while and steal it?

Prior to the Mormon exodus, Nauvoo had a population of 12,000, larger than Chicago at the time. In fact, Joseph Smith was considering running for President. But today, Nauvoo is inhabited by only 1000 or so hardy souls.

The Mormons were mostly farmers, so when they left, ownership of their farms was spread all over HancockCounty, instead of being concentrated in Nauvoo. Which left the town of Nauvoo with virtually no type of industry.

Enter the French Icarians. Around 1849, after the last of the Mormon stragglers had departed for Utah

By 1886, the 35 vintners in and around Nauvoo were producing some 60,000 gallons of wine
US


CHEESE TO THE RESCUE!J

In the mid-1930's, a professor at Iowa State University named Oscar Rohde was experimenting with a new recipe for bleu cheese. Rohde needed a place to properly age his cheese and Nauvoo's history with wine production quickly came to mind. He came to Nauvoo and made some initial attempts which were so successful that he purchased an abandoned brewery and converted it into the Nauvoo Blue Cheese Factory, opening for business in 1937.

To help Nauvoo's two industries, Mayor Lowell Horton organized a Grape Festival in 1938 to celebrate their impact on the town. Rohde and many others in Nauvoo became familiar with the history of bleu cheese in Roquefort, France, and it was decided that a pageant similar to one put on there, Nauvoo would have its own "Wedding of the Wine and Cheese." In 1941, the Wedding first took place with the Labor-Day weekend Grape Festival. It developed into a pageant and beauty contest, with both a king and a queen, as well as attendants.



The point of this story is only that while the Mormons, who are decidedly anti-booze, (Tho they DID make wine for 'sacramental' purposes only) might have eventually stumbled onto a wonderful cheese biz, the wine biz in Nauvoo would probably NOT have thrived without the departure of the Mormons and they would not have gone, had not Joseph and his brother been murdered.

So Utah was settled and Nauvoo found new life because of that nefarious deed. Amazing what a little wine and cheese will do!

-30-

[BobPalma]

Great story, Johnny...but did you ever find (or define to your satisfaction) American Cheese? BP

[Johnnywiffer]

Great story, Johnny...but did you ever find (or define to your satisfaction) American Cheese? BP

Yep. I'm gonna eat Velveeta!

John

[JDP]

Yep. I'm gonna eat Velveeta!

John

Next time, ask for a "cheese product"

" Velveeta is now sold in the U.S. as a "Pasteurized Prepared Cheese Product,"a term for which the FDA does not maintain a standard of identity".

As is the case with most processed cheeses, the manufacturer recommends Velveeta be refrigerated after opening."

[Skip Lackie]

Yep. I'm gonna eat Velveeta!

John

Was listening to an old 1947 radio show the other night. The broadcast included the original commercials, which were for Kraft Foods, which of course still makes Velveeta. Instead of a commercial, they simply announced with great fanfare that "Kraft brand American processed cheese" was finally available again in stores, after having been "sent to war" for more than six years. Two comments: (1) Apparently the name Velveeta hadn't been invented yet, as they just kept referring to it as American cheese; and (2) It was a good reminder of how much the home front gave up during WWII.

[mausersmth]

Interesting story about Nauvoo, being LDS (Mormon) I'm familiar with the story up to the 'eviction', but never heard what happened to the town after!
Maybe I should check it out next year after the South Bend meet. (I assume their attitudes towards the Mormons has mellowed since 1844!)