I’m a food writer and I have a confession: I loveAmerican cheese.
And I’m not talking aboutAmerican Originalslike Monterey Jack, Colby, Muenster, or the like.
I know I’m not alone!
Shutterstock
But haters will often argue that it’s a processed material.
But technically,allcheese is processed.
Cheese is a man-made food that requires human ingenuity to make it exist.
Shutterstock
Then there’s the argument that this supposedly lowbrow stuff isn’t evenreal cheese.
Pasteurized Process American Slices surearen’t cheese; they’re made with cheap oil and not milk.
This is the junk that gave American cheese a bad rap.
Su-Jit Lin/ Eat This, Not That!
It’s these mostly natural ingredients that give American cheese the qualities that make it so special.
This off-the-block American needs to have no more than 43% moisture and at least 47% fat.
The packaged ones have a few more additives and are permitted to be lower in fat.
Su-Jit Lin/ Eat This, Not That!
However, they must be at least 51% straight-up cheese.
And these are what we’re looking at today.
Read on to see how we ranked them.
Su-Jit Lin/ Eat This, Not That!
Plus, check outWe Tried 6 Store-Bought Rotisserie Chickens & This Is the Best.
(Plus, always be sure to skip the8 Worst Fast-Food Burgers to Stay Away From Right Now.)
How we graded them.
Su-Jit Lin/ Eat This, Not That!
We tested these American cheese .
First of all, because it’s delicious and nutritious!
Without further ado, here are American cheese slices, ranked from the just OK to the best option.
Su-Jit Lin/ Eat This, Not That!
I want to not feel bamboozled by health halos and instead, be delighted by a real one.
Unfortunately, they did not meet them, no thanks to a new recipe released just earlier this year.
Cold, this is a harder, stiffer cheese than its competitors.
This was also the poorest melter of the batch.
It was stubbornly slow to melt until nuked too, which revealed some creaminess and mildly warm flavor.
So for 150-year-old Elsie the cow’s sake, I hoped America wasn’t wrong about their American.
), since the soft single felt slightly plasticine when consumed cold.
Surprisingly, this was the most reluctant to melteven more so than the much denser Horizon Organic.
In between the two, it puffed up, the extra air making it susceptible to quick cooling.
Where it was flat was in the flavor, with not a lot of character or even milkiness.
Out of its plastic wrap, the cheese started wilting right awaynot unexpected given its sole purpose for existence.
The mildest of all of the cheeses tested, it was also the sweetest.
But at a lower calorie count than the others, well, why not?
Looking for more helpful tips?Your ultimate restaurant and supermarket survival guide is here!
This basically defeats the purpose of buying sit-in-your-fridge-forever cheese.
Nonetheless, it found redemption a few chews in.
In fact, it almost disappears when left to melt by itself.
This was unexpected since cheese is supposed to stay solid longer than cheese food by theory of composition alone.
Because it melted so quickly, though, microwaving it creates a skin, similar to the Borden.
My solution, though?
Mix and match for your own bespoke blend.
Check out more exclusive taste tests:
We Tasted 6 Potato Chip Brands & This Is the Best!
