American Cheese. Cheese of M'urica.
Take that Putin! Or, not. I shouldn't even be writing his name on the internet because I'm scared.
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Buy Mami a burger, send her a Starbucks gift card (grande hot mocha with whip) or nail polish at the Dollar Tree:
Mami Maisonet
5960 S Land Park #222
Sacramento, CA 95822
LAST WEEK PROVED that not only do y’all show up for me when it comes to writing about non-Puerto Rican content (tysm), but y’all really like burgers! I took a poll on my Instagram and asked how y’all liked your burgers and some of you were “uhhh pretty pretty” passionate about your toppings: pickles, grilled onions, raw onions, tomatoes, heirloom tomatoes, mayo, deli mustard, toasted buns. Thankfully, pickles were a must amongst most of you.
The one thing that kept showing up in the list of toppings was specifically, American Cheese. That processed and dyed wobbly slice that melts perfectly on the hot burger, draping over the patty and sometimes co-mingling into the mayonnaise to create a thick and sometimes hollandaise type sauce.
When I tagged Kraft cheese on Twitter, a follower said, “I like Kraft cheese or American cheese deli slices on my burgers.” To which I responded, “Isn’t Kraft the creator of the American cheese slice?” Follower replied, “I don’t think so. But I'd love to go down the rabbit hole with you on that one.” And so I went down the rabbit hole. It took a nanosecond for me to come across the answer. “After patenting a new method for manufacturing processed cheese in 1916, James L. Kraft began marketing it in the late 1910s, & the term "American cheese" began to refer to the processed variety instead of the traditional but more expensive cheddars made and sold in the U.S.”
I really didn’t intend on writing about American cheese, and yet…here we are.
A deeper dive lead me to this Thrillist article that claims “processed cheese that has become known as American cheese was first developed in Switzerland, not America, back in 1911.”
A 2009 issue of the Michigan Dairy Review claims:
Commercially, the first processed cheese was developed by Walter Gerber and Fritz Stettler in Switzerland in 1911. In this process, natural Emmentaler cheese was shredded and heated with sodium citrate to produce a homogeneous product which firmed up upon cooling. The initial intent of this product was to improve shelf-life of cheese shipped to warmer climates. About this time, James Lewis Kraft in the United States of America (USA) was working independently on blending and heating of natural cheeses. The first patent, which was issued to him in 1916, describes melting pieces of Cheddar cheese and stirring it while heating to form a homogenous warm cheese which was then packaged in glass jars or cans. This first patent did not describe addition of emulsifying salts and/or other ingredients during processing. The use of emulsifying salts (sodium phosphate) was described later for the first time in 1921 in a patent issued to George Herbert Garstin of the Phoenix Cheese Company.
Apparently, the American cheese slice was having a bit of a hard time when the industry experienced declining sales several years ago. Blame the millennials. Their lack of ability to have their minds compromised by bombastic Saturday morning commercials convincing them that their moldable minds demand sugary cereals and crayon colored Polyethylene is alarming. I mean…where’s the fun in that?
I remember standing in line, with Mami, at the church down the street from our house. It was early in the cold morning, I was wrapped up in one of this color-blocked bubble vest, beanie with the furry bolita on top and my faithful companion (Brown E. Bear) on my hip. What were we doing? We were waiting in line with other families to receive our government cheddar cheese (listed as including milk, cheese culture, salt, enzymes), whey, water, protein concentrate, milk, sodium citrate, calcium phosphate, milkfat, gelatin, salt, sodium phosphate, lactic acid as a preservative, annatto and paprika extract (color), enzymes, Vitamin A palmitate, cheese culture, Vitamin D3 cheese block, of course.
Mami was in a rough patch, as sometimes single parents from specific socioeconomic backgrounds can find themselves in. Receiving WIC can be extremely helpful, especially when it comes with hot and cold cereals, milk and cheese.
That huge Velveeta cheese block - commercially known as a “loaf” - was used for an array of applications; from mac and cheese to grilled cheese sandwiches. To this day, Mami is convinced it’s the best cheese for grilled cheese sandwiches. And what is Velveeta more than just a whole rectangular block version of the single slice that is found tucked into its own clear plastic comforter?
Ultimately, it was James and Norman Kraft’s 1965 machine invention that could individually wrap the slices of cheese that made them synonymous with what we know today as their Kraft Singles.
Fascinating.
Now I want a grilled cheese.
This makes me feel a little less guilty about this "guilty pleasure."