Gustatory investigation confirms what should be obvious by a cursory visual check: the single-serving substance Guangming (光明) is selling is definitely not cheddar cheese (切达奶酪).
John has lived in China for
11.5
years. He is a linguist focused on SLA and tech.
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Not to sound unsympathetic, but which part of purchasing a Chinese brand of individually-wrapped slices of soft, floppy alleged “cheddar cheese” made you think this particular enterprise was going to end well?
What can I say? I’m an optimist…
I was betting it wouldn’t be any worse than the regular pale processed cheese. I’m pretty sure it was the exact same thing. (Still good enough for grilled cheese!)
Did you try the one with chocolate taste? Quite an experience.
Funnily enough, that’s what cheddar cheese slices look like in Australia, too – I think the bright color they have in the US is added artificially.
It’s probably better for people who are lactose-intolerant. (Even though I’d personally rather have real cheese and live with the consequences.)
If you think it’s obvious it’s not cheddar due to the color, think again. I just bought some “extra sharp special reserve” cheddar cheese which is very pale, perhaps even lighter than the stuff in the picture.
“Food colourings are sometimes used in industrial varieties of Cheddar style cheeses. One commonly used example is Annatto, extracted from the tropical achiote tree. The largest producer of industrial Cheddar style cheese in the United States, Kraft, uses a combination of annatto and oleoresin paprika, an oil made from paprika.”
Shocking !!