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Government Cheese: Making America Grate Again
New Year’s Day, Simon Templar started a post “Blackeye Peas And Comfort Food”. There were 288 comments. Someone mentioned government cheese and I shoot my mouth off about someday doing a post about my experience making government cheese. As you may have realized my pen name is PHCheese which is a play on PhD. I acquired this moniker at a party on Bald Head Island, NC (alcohol was involved) where everyone except myself and my best friend were either MDs or PhDs or, in case of one fellow, both. My best friend was an owner of several car dealerships and probably had more money than everyone else combined. One of the more modest doctors (if there is such a thing) asked my friend a question on the economy. His answer was something like he just moves iron (cars) and he would demure to me because I had a PHCheese.
So I do not have a PHCheese. I have a BA in Political Science, Economics, and History. However, I did own a cheese business which, in part, made government cheese. This in no way makes me a cheese expert. I needed to understand and execute every phase of my company so please don’t hold me to the technical questions of cheese, farming, and cows etc. I hired people for the tough stuff.
First, a little history of government cheese and, with it, a little background on cows and farming. Cows give milk after giving birth. Their off spring are taken and the cow will continue to give milk for about a year. They are usually re-bred early in that time. In the old days (up until about 1940) this was done with the seasons, which meant that there was a glut of milk in late May and June that would drive prices down. As with all government programs, there were good intentions involved. The Commodity Credit Corporation was hatched to smooth-out supply and demand during the New Deal. It actually worked for a time: the CCC would buy the surplus and then sell it to the trade during short supply times. But after changes in animal husbandry and farming techniques, the milk supply became more constant and — with the growth of farmer co-ops — the government became the costumer-of-first-resort (instead of the last resort) for cheese. Mountains of surplus cheddar made in 40-lb. blocks were stored in warehouses and limestone mines all over the country, especially in Kansas City.
All of this cheese was inspected by the USDA prior to being purchased by the CCC; it was an excellent product, especially after being aged, some of it for four or five years. The CCC try to use-up these surpluses through school lunch program but, by 1980, that no longer kept up with purchases.
This is the beginning of what I call the dog chasing its tail. The CCC began giving the cheese to states who, in turn, gave it to the general public who, in turn, lowered demand in normal markets, thus causing the CCC to buy more surpluses. It is also where I got involved. I was one of two USDA-approved packaging plants in Pennsylvania at the time. The other plant either was not interested or didn’t know that PA had a let a bid to package 5 million lbs of 40-lb. cheddar in to five-lb. packages. At the same time, I also won a bid let by the USDA to package one million lbs. of cheddar to be sent to Egypt. Needless to say this, was huge for me at the time. I only had three months to do it all.
I got it done and took the considerable profits and bought equipment to process those same cheddar into 5-lb. process American cheese. This cheese also played a big part in the tail-chasing drama. Pallets of American cheese were dropped in some crazy places. Forget the phrase “process”: this was excellent product as well. First, I’ll explain what American cheese is and then explain how and with equipment is used. American cheese is basically just cooked cheddar cheese. To enable it to form back into a solid about 2 or 3 % of emulsifiers (sodium phosphate) are added, along with some salt. That is it.
So, why and how do you take perfectly good cheddar and make American out of it? Cheddar can be described as being alive. It starts life as a rubbery tasteless curd. As it ages, it takes on different characteristics, textures, and — more importantly — flavors. But here is the rub, time doesn’t stop the process and everyone has a different opinion what tastes good to them. So, different stages and ages and textures of cheddar are blended together so as to develop a consistent American cheese. The cooking stops the phases forever and also creates an indefinite self life as long as the packaging stays in intact. It actually does not really need refrigerated as long as the packaging keeps its integrity.
So, if you eyes haven’t glazed over now for the how. One thing I neglected to tell you is that cheddar also comes 500-lb. barrels. Yep 500 lbs., which is about 15% bigger than a 55 gal. drum. This is what we for the most part used to make American. I mentioned blending. First, we cut four 500 lb.-barrels into 25-lb. slabs by pushing them through wires using hydraulics. We had a two thousand-lb. capacity grinder that resembled what you might see at the butcher shop to make hamburger,except this was about as big as car and had a 100-hp electric motor. The slabs got mixed and ground at the same time and sent to the cooker, where the emulsifiers were added and salt and water to bring it to the required moisture content. We had a 1000 lb.-cooker that melted the cheddar using steam. We brought the temperature up to at least 168 degrees, or pasteurization temperature. The cooker had an auger that also mixed the blend. This was about a five-minute process.
All told, we averaged 10,000 lbs. an hour. The molten cheese then went into a heated surge tank with a 1500-lb. capacity. From there, it was pumped to a filling machine that measured 5 lbs. at a time and dropped it into a cardboard box, lined with a plastic pouch that self-sealed from the heat of the cheese. The boxes were synced with the filler on a conveyor, a lid was placed over the box, and six boxes were placed in a master box, finally, on a pallet sixty boxes, all told. This took sixteen people, many of whom could be eliminated with equipment I couldn’t afford. The pallets were taken to a blast cooler overnight to stop the cheese from continuing to cook in the pouch. If it didn’t cool quickly, it could discolor. For about five years, we proceed about 1.5 million lbs. of American cheese a month. Many times, it was shipped back to where the cheddar came from, the dog was still chasing its tail.
I hope this covers all you wanted to know ( probably some you didn’t) about Government Cheese. I can answer any questions in the comments. Remember I am not really a PHCheese, so take it easy on me.
Published in Culture
PH, What beverage goes best with American Cheese?
I get it but it’s like playing Russian Roulette in my opinion.Very similar to going unvaccinated. I had polio as a child before the vaccine and now it is rare through out the world like getting sick from drinking milk is rare in the US. For me it’s not the place to pick a fight with the Feds but I respect your opinion.
There are a lot of costs involved with that. Believe me it wasn’t a get rich scheme .
Well if it’s government cheese probably Colt45 Malt Liquor in a quart bottle.
Regarding raw milk, sometimes you might just be trading one health risk for another. I don’t know if that’s the case with raw milk, but I do know the “hygiene hypothesis” or “old friends theory” has been gaining steam – that not being exposed to enough of the the microscopic critters we co-evolved with leads to chronic health problems later in life, like asthma, lupus, and other autoimmune disease.
Given the intractable and often quite frankly vague nature of many chronic complaints, we shouldn’t be surprised that desperate people will swear that some “weird trick” helped them manage. But raw milk is one of these weird tricks, apparently because it’s teeming with good microbes. (Other things teem with good microbes, too, but seem even weirder and riskier.)
There probably is some truth to the hygiene hypothesis but I don’t think you get immune to pathogens like listeria,salmonella,tuberculosis and campylobacter to name a few. I had a full time cleaning crew with formal training in sanitation. We ran plate tests every night and we still had found listeria in a floor drain grate. We shut down for thee days and cleaned and never found it again. I can’t see this happening on a small marginal farm. Listeria is often found on a cows udders and can easily enter the milk chain.
Here’s a question…
I always wondered how do you get Milk Duds out of a cow? And do Milk Duds only come out of brown cows?
I am forever stymied by the mysteries of the universe. Maybe you can enlighten me Mr. Big Cheese?
Absolutely Fascinating – thanks for posting this!
Did you ever send any cheese to northwest Ohio? I had an uncle who used to regularly go and collect his allotment of government cheese. My parents didn’t understand why he would want a handout. He said he paid for it, which was true.
For those of you who don’t know Jack, I suggest you become acquainted with Vella Cheese from Sonoma, California. Their Dry Jack rivals the best Parmesean, and their Mezzo Secco is a work of art. They ship via UPS. (www.vellacheese.com Typing on phone won’t allow me to hyperlink.)
Milk Duds! I think that’s a lot of bull.
I wasn’t involved with the distribution of the government cheese. The USDA would send in a truck for 40,000 lbs and I would never see it again. I am familiar with Vella Cheese. They make fine products.
I’m a little surprised no one has mentioned these guys yet.
I don’t know about feeding your monkey government cheese but my parrot Birdowski (pig with wings) sure liked it.
Can any American still get free cheese from the government just by asking?
I want to say this respectfully, but you don’t get it. It’s probably my fault more than yours. Yes, it’s like playing Russian Roulette. But isn’t preserving the freedom of future generations worth some risks? To do that we have to preserve the habits of freedom, and we have to preserve the notion that it requires some risk.
As to polio, I’ve never been vaccinated against it. It’s not because we didn’t know how scary polio was. My mother was against the vaccine briefly, and I stayed home while everyone else at school went to get vaccinated. That was a valuable lesson in how to march against the government way. My siblings all got vaccinated but somehow we never get around to doing me. I ended up marrying a woman whose father had polio at age 10. His younger sister died of it; we have her portrait on our living room wall. It’s a terrible risk, and in order to preserve the freedom of parents to raise their children it’s worth taking.
*typed by his secretary while flying to the Bahamas on his private jet*
The idea that life should be without risk is Leftist tripe.
I don’t think it was ever that easy, however in the eighties the Feds kicked the distribution down to the state and there was just so much of it that it didn’t seem like there was any guidelines but there actually were. I remember in the town I lived in a pallet was placed in the senior citizen center with a sign that said help yourself. Food banks and such were full up. The program has changed since then with food stamps becoming SNAP. There has been lots changes with the CCC as well. They have done such things as herd buyouts and even farmer buyouts to shrink milk supplies. I really quit keeping up some years back so I am not sure what is going on now.
In Minnesota, apparently they aren’t very strict about who can get the free government cheese. I used to work with a lady who said her mother-in-law would go down to get free cheese while wearing a fur coat and diamond rings, so apparently you didn’t have to convince anyone that you were destitute.
It wasn’t a jet, it was a prop, and didn’t go to the Bahamas it was the Abacus. But really the gross is hardly the net. Start deducting a $12,000 electric bill, $14,000 gas bill, $1000 water and sewer, payroll for 19 people including 100% of health insurance , all the packaging involved , $40 per hour plus expenses for a USDA inspector , the mortgage on a $750,000 building and on and on. There were times I thought I would be better off being the inspector.
You have to live long enough to become a parent. No guarantee drinking raw milk.
I never wore my seat belt until a girl I was dating was thrown from a car , broke her neck and died. We were a beautiful couple, would have made beautiful babies but I’ll never know. Everyone else in the car lived and was wearing a seat belt, she was not.
What would expect in Minnesota?
The process really fascinates me. Did you come up with any of the process or was it already set for you?
I’m not saying “live your life totally on the edge,” I don’t. But there are nanny state restrictions and there is common sense. Milk seems to me to fall more toward the nanny side of the equation. Seat belts seems more like common sense to me.
There are a bunch of ways to skin a cat. Types of equipment varies from one plant to another. Large companies are very automated but the actual process comes down to cooking and packaging the cheese. As I said before all Cheese has a standard of identity mandated by the government and there is little variation in the ingredients except for the type of emulsifiers and food coloring. There is some lab testing that needs to be done to determine the in going fats and moisture so the out going product meets the standards. The final product is also tested.This process dates back to the early 1900 . I picked the equipment and had consultants help with the set up . There was a fairly steep learning curve with employees and the equipment. Early on mistakes were made for instance we made 80,000 lbs of pinkish cheese. It was over cooked. The lactose in the cheese reacts with the food coloring and turns pink or light gray. I had to buy it from the government. It took awhile to get out from under that. Clean up was a major undertaking with everything needing to be taken apart, cleaned, and the put back together again properly. The picture at the beginning of the post (by the way added by the editors) is of individual wraped slices which was my next venture and much more complex. FYI the cheese is not sliced,it is wrapped molten. Might be my next post.
Milk safety does seem rather simple and on a small scale it is but on an industrial scale it is not. Do you remember the Blue Bell Ice cream recall. They closed for over a year to rid the plant of listeria. My sources tell me it came down a kink in a stainless pipe that wasn’t getting thoroughly cleaned. The kink was a harbor for bacteria. A plant like that wold have thousands of feet of pipe and other areas of concern. Harmful bacteria like listeria can kill the young and old.To make matters worse the pipe atBlue Bell apparently had already pasteurized milk flowing through it.
Yes.
I see nothing inconsistent with acknowledging that pooling milk on a large scale is quite different from getting it from cow to mouth in smaller batches. I’m not a raw milk nut myself (though I wouldn’t be averse to trying reputable raw milk if it were convenient). Those I know of who are raw milk nuts aren’t advocating pooling raw milk in such large quantities that one infected cow can give TB or listeria to folks all across the nation – raw milk nuts tend to be “eat local” nuts, too, in which case the risk is across a much smaller, more isolated population.
We’re fortunate to have pasteurization and modern hygienic manufacture at our disposal. Pasteurization certainly has saved lives – especially, I suppose, the lives of milk-drinkers who live too far away from dairy cattle to get affordable milk that hasn’t been pooled. These days, food produced in small batches is often a luxury item, but I understand folks wanting to be left alone to pursue that luxury if it’s important to them.
I understand that folks want freedom and to be left alone, I am Irish. I don’t even change my watch for day light savings time. I might be wrong but I think raw milk can be bought at the farm in most states.
If you care to know, http://www.realmilk.com/real-milk-finder/