If you think of a typical Dutch cheese, you can already picture it: a dark yellow, sometimes orange outside and a light yellow inside. A real cheese color is yellow, but what does that actually mean?
Because the freshly milked milk from a cow is white, right? Just like that of a goat whose cheese, unlike that of a cow, is white. Remarkable, thinks the Valuation service. Time for further investigation to find out what gives those slices of cheese their color.
The color of Dutch cheese
Cheese made from cow’s milk is naturally yellow. This is because cows (like goats and sheep) eat grass. Grass contains carotene, an orange-yellow natural coloring agent that is found in many vegetables, including carrots. Carotene is not broken down in a cow’s stomach. This is the case with goats and sheep. That explains why cheeses made from cow’s milk are yellow. And the more grass a cow eats, the more yellow the color of the cheese. If the cow eats little grass, the cheese will be a bit paler.
Unnecessarily tropical yellow
Yet came the Inspection service found out that supermarket cheeses are often colored with a yellow dye to make the slices and blocks look more attractive. The South American dye anatto is used for this – listed on the cheese label as E number e160b. But whether the cheeses should be so yellow is the question. The Inspection service did a test that showed that consumers would rather buy an uncoloured, light cheese than one that is yellow. Unnecessary, therefore, that tropical dye.
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Source: Value Inspection Service
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2023-08-08 17:32:18
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