Processed cheese

Different types of processed cheese in slices and as spreadable cheese

Processed cheese (also known as box cheese in Switzerland ) is a further processed product made from one or more types of cheese , often with the addition of other ingredients.

history

Processed cheese was first produced in 1911 by the Swiss industrialist Walter Gerber at Gerber & Co. AG (later “Gerberkäse AG”) in Thun . The “Gerber” brand is now part of the Emmi Group and is used around the world. The cheese and butter wholesaler "Gebrüder Wiedemann", founded in 1892 in Wangen im Allgäu , brought the first German processed cheese onto the market in 1922 under the name Adler . Around the same time, the French Léon Bel ( Fromageries Bel ) built the first factory for the production of processed cheese (“ La vache qui rit , Kiri”) in Lons-le-Saunier . Processed cheese was started in Austria in 1925 under the brand "Alma", making it the oldest processed cheese brand in Austria.

Manufacturing

In Germany, processed cheese is not defined as cheese according to the Cheese Ordinance (KäseV) , but as a product made from cheese that is at least 50 percent, based on the dry matter , from cheese, also with the addition of other dairy products, by melting with the application of heat, including under Using melting salts and emulsifiers is made; The term for a cheese product made by melting without this minimum amount of cheese and with possibly further additives is processed cheese preparation and such a product without treatment by melting is defined there as cheese preparation and a mixture thereof as cheese composition .

For production, cheese is grated, mixed with melting salts and water or other milk products and heated until it liquefies. Then the cheese mass is poured into molds and allowed to cool until it solidifies again.

There are processed cheeses with a variety name that is made from just one type of cheese, and those without a variety name, whose raw material consists of several mixed types of cheese. Often spices , herbs or other ingredients such as mushrooms or ham pieces are added. Processed cheese is often traded as cheese spread in the form of small triangular slice segments in aluminum foil or as slices (cut-proof) with dividers welded in plastic foil. These processed cheese slices were particularly popular with the Kraft Foods brand “Scheibletten”, which was introduced in Germany in 1956 . Processed cheese slices are often used for gratinating sandwiches and as a topping for cheeseburgers .