Process Cheese & Kraft
I recently read an article in Invention & Technology (this was from a 2001 issue, which tells you something about the lag time associated with reading magazines in our house!) about the origin or process cheese. It turns out that in the late 1800s, cheese consumption in the US was very low because of inconsistent quality and very short shelf life. James Kraft was a cheese salesman, and when he became aware of the difficulties in selling cheese, began experimenting with heating cheese to kill the molds and bacteria that cause it to age quickly, and then adding emulsifiers to prevent the fats and solids from separating. He patented the process in 1916 and began selling this “process cheese” in cans, and hit it big during World War I selling process cheese to the military. He went on to creating Velveeta, pre-slicing, Cheez Whiz and Singles! An interesting factoid from the article is that annual cheese consumption in the US has increased from 3 pounds per person to over 30 pounds per person in the last century!
– Chris