224 Cheese Colored

Cheesy and Fondue learn about the color of cheese. We talk about saffron, marigold, carrot juice and annatto. We find out who has cheese colored paint and makeup. And of course, we tell a very cheesy joke!

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Why is cheddar the most dangerous of all the cheeses? Because it is very sharp!

Show Notes

https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2013/11/07/243733126/how-17th-century-fraud-gave-rise-to-bright-orange-cheese

https://rennetandrind.co.uk/blogs/perrys-blog/why-red-cheese-is-red-exploring-the-science-behind-its-coloration

https://www.janetfletcher.com/blog/2022/10/30/color-theory

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annatto

https://culturecheesemag.com/blog/cheeses-dyed-yellow-orange

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apocarotenal

https://www.vermontcreamery.com/products/whipped-roasted-beet-goat-cheese-dip

https://www.treehugger.com/why-cheese-was-first-dyed-yellow-4868581

https://www.formaticum.com/blogs/news/all-about-annatto-in-defense-of-orange-cheese?srsltid=AfmBOoreDV8XXs-dnYery2h8Q-o1sf4tJvUcrGjo3drrHUp13RgnDx_u

https://crayola.fandom.com/wiki/Name_The_New_Colors_Contest

https://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/paint-colors/color/2017-20/sharp-cheddar

https://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/paint-colors/search?q=cheese

https://www.allure.com/story/burger-eye-shadow-palette-glamlite-cosmetics-shop?utm_source=chatgpt.com

https://destinationyarn.com/products/cheese-curds?srsltid=AfmBOoqEjCaP1DJLP3iB4Lg_QKrcf4Cd-Qf_flD0G1GBFLjGbcgzzYob

Episode Transcript

(00:02):
Just Cheesy the podcastpresented by Just Cheesy Productions.
Hi there. I'm your host, Fondue.
I'm Cheesy.
In this week's episode, we'regoing to learn all about the color
of cheese. We're going to talkabout the history of the color of
cheese. We're talking saffron,marigold, carrot juice and annatto.

(00:23):
And we're going to find outwho has cheese colored paint and
makeup. And of course, we'regoing to tell a very cheesy joke.
I love a joke. Stay tuned forepisode 224, cheese colored on Just
Cheesy the podcast. You know,Cheesy, there's a lot of talk about
food coloring in the news lately.
Oh yeah.
But this is nothing newreally. According to npr.org cheese

(00:44):
expert Paul kinstead of theUniversity of Vermont says that back
in the 17th century, Englishcheese makers thought they could
make a little bit more moneyif they skim the cream off the top
of the milk to basically sellit separately or make butter from
it. And you're thinking toyourself, why is that a big deal?
Well, yeah.
Why?
That that cream that theyskimmed off the top has a little

(01:06):
bit of an orange color. Sowhen they skimmed it from the top
to make butter, the cheeselost a lot of its color. And what
it says here is what was leftover was basically low fat cheese
made from white milk. So inorder to make it look like a higher
quality product that includedthat cream, cheese makers tried to
initially trick people andmask the white color of the cheese.

(01:27):
What they began adding coloring.
They did?
Yeah. All the way back in the17th century, they began coloring
cheese. They began with thingslike saffron, marigold and carrot
juice. A lot of historicaltexts mention saffron being rare.
So it's likely it was veryexpensive and probably not the most
used colorant.
Right.
And if we go back a littlebit, cheese actually gets its natural

(01:49):
golden color because of betakeratin, a pigment cows get from
grass.
They do.
So grass fed cows had a littlebit yellower milk and people began
to associate that yellow colorwith quality. Of course, cheese makers
also started coloring cheesesintentionally because grass is more
prevalent in the summer. Theycolored it so that pale winter cheeses
looked like the prized summer batches.

(02:12):
Tricky.
So essentially this was a bitof a marketing trick.
Yeah.
Rennet and Rind.co.uk talksabout the British territorial cheeses.
It says here they were coloredwith a variety of agents. They mentioned
carrot juice and saffron andthey even talk about turmeric and
marigold petals. There wasanother colorant that began being
used back in the 16th centuryand was imported to the United states

(02:35):
in the 18th century. It'scalled annatto. And according to
the article, it produced amore vibrant color with less impact
on texture and flavor.
Wow.
And it's used in a lot ofdifferent food coloring today.
It is.
It's been used for centuriesto dye textiles, cosmetics, and even
Aztec paintings.
Wow.

(03:44):
Annatto is a natural colorantderived from the seeds of the. I'm
going to butcher it. Achiotetree. And this is native to South
America and the Caribbean. Andfrom the picture they show here,
it looks like they come insort of like a shell, and they're
brick red in color. It sayshere, the color is extracted from
the see by drying them beforesoaking them in an alkaline solution.

(04:06):
The solution is then added tothe milk at the beginning of the
cheesemaking process, givingthe curds their distinctive orange
or red color. And there's evensome historical documentation about
the coloring of cheese.According to culturecheesemag.com
they say here French mimoletteis so deeply colored that the cut
wedges could be mistaken forcantaloupe slices. And the Dutch

(04:26):
edam cheese was purportedlycreated by decree of Louis xiv. It
says here, according to thebook Cheese Exploring Taste and Tradition,
mimolet was likely died as asnub to the Dutch Royal House of
Orange. And today, there's alittle bit of rivalry between Vermont
and Wisconsin cheese. Whenvisiting Cabot Creamery, they claim

(04:49):
they use no colorants in theirwhite cheddar cheese, and they believe
it's superior to the yellowcheese coming from places like Wisconsin.
Cabot Creamery is not asponsor, but if they were, their
ad would go right here. Didyou know there's another natural
coloring agent I'm gonnabutcher this. Apokerotinil is a colorant.

(05:11):
It's natural, and it's derivedfrom plants that give a deep orange
tint. And it's found in thingslike spinach and citrus fruits. And
according to some reports,it's used in cheeses like Velveeta.
And believe it or not, you canactually dye some things on your
own. According toVermontCramery.com you can make a
whipped roasted beet and goatcheese dip. This is amazing. It is

(05:35):
a purpley p. Yeah. It's goingto take two to three large beets
cut into one inch pieces. Someolive oil, salt and pepper, some
goat cheese vinegar, honey.There's a recipe in our show notes
you roast the beets, you putthem in a food processor when they
cool, and they impart theirbeautiful color. And you know who
else is kind of famous fortheir beautiful colors? Crayola.

(05:58):
Crayon.
Yeah.
And you know what? There's anorange crayon, and it's named macaroni
and cheese.
Holy cow.
Crayola celebrated a 90thanniversary in 1993, and when they
did it, they paired theCrayola number 64 box with 16 fluorescent
crayons. They decided at thattime to create 16 new colors and

(06:18):
they let the fans name themfor the first time in their history,
Macaroni and cheese was namedby Adrian Watrell, a six year old.
Amazing.
It really is. You know whatelse is cheese colors? Wall paint.
That's right, wall paints.Benjamin Moore has a few. They have
one that's called sharpcheddar. They have one called nacho

(06:38):
cheese and one called Americancheese. And maybe you don't want
to paint your wall likecheese. Well, maybe you want to paint
your face. According toAllure.com back in 2019, glam light
had an eyeshadow palettecalled the burger palette. That's
right. It had 16 differentshades and it was inspired by delicious

(06:58):
burger toppings and sides.
Really?
Yeah. It had things likeavocado, bacon, ketchup, onion rings,
mustard, onions, and ofcheese. Maybe you don't want to wear
cheese color on your eyes, butyou do want to wear it on your body.
You do.
It appears that in 2017, youcould have had a color called fried
cheese curds. That's right.DestinationYarn.com had something

(07:20):
called fried cheese curdcolored yarn. It said the first skein
was dyed in a semi solidcolorway. Then speckles of similar
colors were applied on top.This was to celebrate the culinary
masterpiece in the Midwest,which is perfectly delightful and
cheesy. Of course, they're notthe only ones with cheese colored
yarn. There's one calledknitpicks.com and they have one called

(07:41):
cheese poof. I mean, just asmall, small Google search will bring
you to things called chili conqueso and nacho cheese. You name
it. You can pretty much getcheese colored yarn just about anywhere
online.
I'm ready for a joke fondue.
Okay. Why did cheddar decideto be orange?
I don't know. Why?
Because it wanted to stand outon the board.

(08:03):
Ha ha. That was lame.
It might have been a littlebit lame, but I thought it was a
little bit cheesy. Thanks forlistening to Just Cheesy, the podcast
episode 224 cheese coloredthank you. If you haven't yet, please
subscribe or download ourpodcast every week. It really helps

(08:24):
us out.
And stay cheesy everybody.