Title.
It feels like such a waste.
I have never encountered this product. Can you give a brand/product name example?
https://ibb.co/SVRjbyj https://ibb.co/SnSB5cV
This was bought from Aldi
So, what’s the yellow stuff for? To keep the bags from sticking together?
Any cheese by Kraft labeled as “singles” would fit the bill. I’ve seen American, Swiss, and Mozzarella done this way. Italics as I cannot confirm other countries would consider it cheese.
check the labels folks, “Cheese food product” is called that because it cannot legally be called cheese.
I think that even in the US it is not considered cheese, but a cheese “product.”
Odds are, because its cheaper than a cardboard box.
It is a big waste! Unless your cheese melts very easily, there is no reason to have that amount of plastic.
This kind of cheese has a very low melt point.
The entire purpose of this cheese is is incredibly low melt point.
It bundles them together. Imagine buying a loose handful of slices, it doesn’t work well.
I’ve bought plenty like that, they’re sliced and bundled together in a plastic container. Unless there is some substance between them that I’m unaware of
I was talking about the outer plastic.
The kind of cheese slices I’m thinking of are sort of a solidified cheeze-wiz substance, I suspect that if there was nothing between them they’d merge back together into the blob they were probably originally extruded from.
if i buy the store brand american cheese at my supermarket, they’re not individually packed and aren’t really that hard to separate on their own, so lmao idk why Kraft does that.
That’s how it’s made. They melt cheese with emulsifying salts, squirt it into a plastic envelope, and it cools into the shape of the wrapper.
thanks, i’m immediately going to continue never eating the disguising “cheese” slices ever again.
American cheese apparently melts so at least it makes some kind of sense.
Kraft singles in Australia are basically made from the same plastic as the packaging and are in no danger of melting or being mistaken for cheese.
Do they not use milk to make Kraft singles in Australia the way they do in America? 🤔
Food tech is kinda my area, so I went and did a little research and it turned into quite a ride. For cultural context, grilled (broiled in the US, I think) cheese and Vegemite is kind of a traditional Aussie snack. Just a slice of white bread with butter and Vegemite, slice of cheese on top, stick it under the grill.
The Kraft singles I remember from my childhood absolutely did not behave like anything resembling real cheese when you did this. It melted on the inside, sure. But the outside just dried out and turned into a kind of plasticky skin, then bubbled and burned. So you were left with this partially blackened and crunchy cling-film like skin disguising a thin layer of vaguely dairy-adjacent molten plastic goop that was guaranteed to stick to and sear the roof of your mouth. Then the skin came off in one piece and slapped you on the chin with the equally hot residue of said plastic goop. For some reason kids loved this.
I’m not sure when OP last ate them, but the Kraft singles I know got axed in like 2017 when Mondelez sold their cheese line to Bega. That makes it incredibly hard to track down the original formula to figure out what in the world they were really made of. They have, however, since been re-released and claim to be at least 45% cheese, which I suspect is a lot more than the ones I remember, probably does melt, and falls pretty squarely into the “processed cheese” definition according to FSANZ. There’s no way in hell I’m buying some to try it though.
There is a How It’s Made episode showing how Kraft singles are made somewhere. It’s still cheese, but they also add more milk to make it meltier, as well as things like preservatives. It’s kind of like a solidified bechamel.
Other brands of similar processed cheese slices tend to made entirely with oils with zero dairy. There is a definite difference in taste and texture comparing Kraft Singles, off-brand singles, and just plain cheddar though.
It probably melts and you have one block of cheese once it’s on the shelves of the store. (I’d have to test that hypothesis. But that stuff is really sticky and soft. I bet you can’t slice it and have it stay like that any other way.)
Other than that: convenience. People even buy pre-sliced Gouda.
To get some free cheese with all that plastic you’re buying
It’s for lazy people. I get the ones that aren’t wrapped. They’re cheaper too.
I never understood why Americans eat this so called cheese. Why cant they just buy like real cheese that melts? It serves the same purpose but is actually cheese with lots of taste and aroma. I just dont get it.
