
The History of Velveeta - venutip
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/there-is-no-shortage-history-when-it-comes-velveeta-180949312/
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kadabra9
The cynic in me can't help but think that this so called "velveeta shortage"
just in time for the NFL Playoffs/Superbowl is in reality nothing more than a
lame guerilla marketing tactic from the Kraft marketing team in an attempt to
drum up sales. The last few times I've gone grocery shopping I've noticed an
abundance of Velveeta on the shelves, I would have had no clue there was a so
called "shortage" unless you told me so.

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Einstalbert
When I went shopping for Christmas party baking and cooking supplies, I
noticed a metric ton of Velveeta wherever I went. I think the "shortage" is
just "We have less from the holiday eating rush, let's make some news."

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Theodores
Clearly the author has never stepped foot inside a cheese factory. Here is
what happens:

Milk arrives

Milk get pasteurised

Rennet gets added to milk

Milk separates to curds and whey

Salt gets added

Whey gets drained off

Whey gets compressed into moulds with remaining whey squeezed out

Moulded blocks of what was whey go into plastic bags, put in the cold storage
'fridge'

After a while the moulded blocks mature into cheese. Typically they weigh 25
Kg each. Over time they mature - mature cheese is a premium product, however,
the cold storage facility is only so big. Therefore some cheese gets sold as
'mild'.

The price of milk comes into it. As does what cows eat. As does how much rain
falls. Sometimes it is better to make coloured cheese or 'diet' cheese if the
milk is not up to scratch.

The whey actually is a very salty 'byproduct'. You can put it into a big
machine that looks like a washing machine and churn it into butter. It will be
salted butter because it already has salt in it.

As for wastage of the 'curd', there is practically none in a modern cheese
factory. So I have no idea what this author is on about. You may have a
useless employee knock a corner off a cheese block due to poor handling, but
other than that there is practically no waste. The idea of 'what shall we do
with this waste' is a bit beyond a joke.

This 'Velveeta' stuff has nothing to do with cheese. It is disgusting. The
ingredients say it all. It is a fake product, like what salad cream is to
mayonnaise. There is no quaint charm about it, no matter what the spin is
here.

However, in the days before refrigeration was commonplace there was good
reason to adulterate products so that they could have some half-decent shelf
life. So, even though the original product was honourable, today's monster,
reformulated product is just plain evil. Avoid with a bargepole.

~~~
poulsbohemian
Theodores - do you make cheese / work in a cheese factory? Would be
interesting to talk to you about it: jeff@mercenarytech.com

