What are the plants that cows eat that give cheddar cheese its distinctive orange color?

Question

Thanks everyone!!

In: Biology

Answer 1

The process of adding annatto is one of those “if a little is good a lot is better” situations. When cows grazed on mountain pastures in the late spring and early summer the grass was richer in beta carotene, which gave the cheeses a yellow-ish pale orange hue. Cheese mongers figured out that those cheese sold better, better more complex flavors, to the exclusion of the winter/spring cheese as the flavors were leaner. Some makers decided that adding a little coloring into their milk helped sell those other cheese then it became a race to the limit. You’ll notice that there is now a trend to not color cheese, especially cheddar and that people think that “white cheddar” is a totally new thing.