Process Cheeses

Up to now, we have been talking about so-called natural cheeses, made by curdling milk and ripening the curds. Process cheese, by contrast, is manufactured by grinding one or more natural cheeses, heating and blending them with emulsifiers and other ingredients, and pouring the mixture into molds to solidify. Process cheese is a uniform product that does not age or ripen like natural cheese. Thus, it keeps very well. It is usually mild in flavor and gummy in texture.