In defence of cheddar 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.

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!

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

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.

I'm another fan of cheddar, but never seen it red.
i always get the stongest.
We used to live in SW France and the Carrefour supermarket eventually stocked cheddar, not coloured.
But before that I used to buy another french cheese which was similar, can't remember the name. Also graded young ...old etc. I think it was Cantal:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cantal_cheese

I always buy the red mature cheddar, not because it tastes any different, but because the addition of just a little to a sauce or dish looks so rich in colour that I tend not to add an unhealthy amount. It is in all my local supermarkets in Oxfordshire.

MaizieD as I’m from Yorkshire , you’d be wrong then lass.?

My local supermarket in France has good cheddar which they cut from a large block. It's strong tasting and crumbly, of the type a friend once described as "making your gums hurt". There is also a chain of fruit and veg shops which import foreign cheeses and the have an excellent cheddar which they buy in small truckles. It's very expensive so only an occasional treat.

Apparently there are over 700 varieties of cheese in the UK. The French find this hard to believe because they aren't regulated, unlike here. eg Roquefort can only be called by that name if it comes from the village of Roquefort. There are artisan cheese makers where I live but I think it's all goats cheese (which I like).

I've seen both red and white cheddar. And no, Gonegirl the dye is from a tree fruit, not beetroot. If you have it in quantity it's a bit nutmeggy. I came upon it in the Caribbean years ago - before I knew what it was used for. Years later I found it listed in cheese in the USA and as I was working with cheese (!) looked it up. It has an E number in Europe but the USA doesn't treat it as an additive as it's a "natural" colour.
I have to say that even so I avoided it in the 80s as had young children and it sometimes provokes allergic reactions.

Someone earlier said something about the 16th century use of it in tiny amounts... I seem to remember that was to "pretend" a particular cheese was made with better milk (better milk = more yellowy).

Oh how I miss this part of France, Dinahmo.
In our weekly local market, Mirande 32, there was a cheese stand with all the kinds of cheese you can imagine.
Made from the milk/cream of all the local or Pyrenean lactating animals - sheep, goats, cows etc.

I had no idea that red cheddar was less common further south. Reading this has reminded me that I never came across white cheddar until after I was married and doing my own shopping. M & S sell a nice red and blue cheese called, I think, Blacksticks Blue.

I always thought that cheddar cheese was red, as that was what I was brought up with (in Scotland). Now I would be likely to buy the white stuff as now that I know it exists, I can't see the point of adding dye.

I have never bought red Cheddar.

When we lived in Holland my cheesemonger didn’t like to stock Cheddar as it didn’t keep as well as Dutch cheeses. He used to stock blue Stilton though.

By jingoes, you're lucky to get English cheeses so cheap!

I absolutely love cheese, but like a previous poster, can't abide cheese snobs. We're so lucky to have such a huge range of cheeses from home and abroad, easily available and relatively cheap. I've rarely found one I don't care for, but always come back to Cheddar (orange) or Red Leicester for cheese on toast. There's just something so comforting about that strong taste and warm colour.

The red colouring around the smoked cheese was paprika, according to the label.

Jane10 the stronger Cheddar eg vintage (Welsh, West Country, Cornish) seems to be paler than the milder ones

We had some lovely brie today, a whole small one.
Lidl apparently.

Well I didn't eat a whole one, obviously, there were several of us!

EllanVannin my dad always ate Danish Blue.

I was brought up very north of Watford Maizie and don't ever remember seeing orange Cheddar.

It just doesn't sound right.

Having eaten so much cheese today when we were out, DH declined cheese and biscuits for his supper.

I'm amazed that red cheddar is an unknown to so many GN's - its in every supermarket, artisan markets, farmers markets etc etc here in the North West. For the cheese snobs its even in the local "Cheese Emporium"
Its a lovely colour - I eat either white or red, I've never known any different.
In Canada one of their favourite cheeses is red and white cheddar in stripes - its a very mild variety which is quite rubbery, not one of my favourites!

Now the cheese I really miss - and rarely see- is green cheese, that wonderful cheese called Sage Derby. In the past I seem to remember the cheese being marbled in green but the only one I have seen recently looks more like a sandwich, a thin layer of green in the middle between two great chunks of white cheese.

I absolutely love Epoisses soft french cheese. Youngest DD says it smells so awful she can’t open our fridge if I have it in.

Montgomery cheddar is somewhat expensive in the amounts I buy but IMO, the best.
Superb after dinner with grapes, pears, dates.
I had some extraordinary cheese at a dinner party given by an Italian friend, at which the usual customs of her country of birth were observed as far as the order of dishes served.
The cheese was a pale cream, quite brittle and only a knuckle was apportioned to each guest with water biscuits.
I think it was brought to the UK after one her trips 'home'.
Montgomery cheddar is the closest taste and texture to that aforementioned cheese.
Delish...?

Red Fox is a great red cheese from Waitrose.
I'm a cheese aficianado (more enthusiastic than knowledgeable) but do not like Brie.
Years ago I had some nettle cheese in Wales which was wonderful.
We're so lucky to have such choice in foods from all around the world but it's hard to beat a well baked, crusty baguette, premium butter, a selection of cheeses, grapes and dates plus wine if you're a drinker and water if not. Live like a king...or queen.