In defence of cheddar cheese

Hi giulia. I live near Cheddar and love mature/extra mature Cheddar. I don’t recall ever seeing orange coloured cheddar and certainly there's none that colour in the various local supermarkets I buy it from.

Yarg is amazing. I was told it was the producer's name 'back to front'. It really is delicious. Waitrose sell it.

Years ago my late sister and family lived abroad and couldn’t get decent cheese which they craved. We were going to visit them and bought a whole Stilton which I froze. As we were about to leave for the airport I packed it in newspaper in the middle of my suitcase. Thirteen hours later it was still pretty frozen and was cut up and put straight into their freezer. Lasted them for months and their British neighbours were treated to some occasionally. Thinking back, it was probably breaking some custom rules to import cheese!

Cheddar is pale but in Scotland they add annatto which gives it an orange tint. Having lived in the Caribbean where annato grows and is used as a food colouring, I am at a loss as to why this is done.
I was told once that annato was used by Amerindians as a poison on their arrows. No idea whether this is true.

Ooh ‘Mexicana’
❤️

I have never noticed any orange coloured Cheddar cheese around in the UK

You're not likely to have done so if you've never ventured north of Watford, lemon.

I have never noticed any orange coloured Cheddar cheese around in the UK ( am sure it exists though ?).
The mousetrap DH likes is a pale yellow, but we also buy Wensleydale ( just gorgeous toasted) Double Gloucester,
Smoked cheddar, brie, and Stilton.Other cheeses are available.?

More for you....

But orange cheddar and the pale cheddar don't taste the same!

If your Italian family still won't try it once you explain that it is a plant seed that colours it, just enjoy it yourself.

Brought up in Leicestershire, my favourite cheese is Red Leicester, and red cheddar is not anywhere near as tasty. It also makes an excellent topping for dishes which brown in the oven.

I dislike cheese snobs almost as much as wine snobs, or any snobs come to that!

I've had red Cheddar from Aldi quite recently. I don't think it adds anything to the flavour, so can't imagine what colouring has been added. Red Cheshire is also well known.

For blue cheese I adore St Agur

Ooh, that almost rhymes!

Follow the link given by Yorksherlass www.thecourtyarddairy.co.uk/blog/cheese-musings-and-tips/why-is-red-cheese-red/

The story is really fascinating and the colouring dates back to 16/17th century and possibly earlier

Thank you Yorksher. I have posted your link around my family of cheeseholics.

My DH used to feed carrots to his cows. Don’t think they made the cheddar orange though??!

I first came across red Cheddar when we moved to Scotland and were stranded on a train in the snow. British Rail, as it was then, produced some red cheddar cheese sandwiches for us. To say the cheese was like rubber is an understatement. We chewed and we chewed and we chewed. It gave our jaws a workout!

A good Danish Blue has a " bite " to it and doesn't taste of mould.
I can't stand any other smelly cheeses though.

I like white stilton Maizie (when I can get it) but none of yer blue stuff.

There's always orange cheddar in Scottish supermarkets. I actually bought some in a New York supermarket last month. I think some people prefer the orange type when grated for the topping of dishes that are finished under the grill.

I don't think I've seen orange Cheddar either

I did buy some smoked cheese o Friday and think that he orange coating is Annette.

No auto-correct stop it please!
annatto

Why share it? Let the Italian friends eat their pale cheese and leave your lovely cheddar all to you.

My mother used to buy orange cheddar - she probably thought it was exotic!? I have always always shied away from buying it. I like cheddar, but love a bit of Wensleydale or Farmhouse Lancashire myself. My only leaning toward continental cheese is Roquefort - much the best blue cheese with its subtle flavour. When we lived in Belgium we couldn’t get English cheeses unless we made a one hundred and forty kilometre journey to the nearest British base with a NAAFI shop. Our base commissary sold American cheeses which are a travesty, and there were good local cheeses, but sometimes you just crave a bit of cheddar, don’t you?

Just off to make a cheese and pickle sarnie.
Roast later, mmmmmm cheese.
I may have missed the point of the thread!
Sorry ? x

A good stilton and gorgonzola are delicious cheeses, GG

But Danish Blue just tastes of mould and, IMO, is horrible...

living in France, cheese is life! however I still love a bit of cheddar, luckily prepacked versions are on a lot of supermarket shelves, mainly UK made but have seen Belgian as mentioned on earlier post. The best thing is some supermarket deli counters are selling cheddars, various strengths ranging between 12 - 17 euros a kilo.. I have never seen any red coloured cheddar over here, though as a scot I am familiar with it. There are hundreds of french cheeses but sometimes only cheddar will do.