How does one tell apart the fake cheese from the real cheese?

Could you define “fake” cheese?

@Kayak8 Me? Probably not, hence the question. But I’m sure others can.

I would say at the very least if it doesn’t have any milk in it, that it isn’t “real” cheese.

If it says “real cheese” on the package, I’m assuming it is real. Is that a wrong assumption?

If the package reads “cheese food product”, it’s not real. Look for the Real Seal. http://www.realseal.com/

I don’t know. If you have any doubts about whether it’s “real cheese” then I would steer clear of it. Any food producer who makes a big deal about how the “food” they are selling you is actually made out food is to be avoided, I think. If you can’t tell if your food is really food then you are shopping the wrong way, for the wrong things, in the wrong places, in my humble opinion.

If it squirts out of a can steer clear. LOL.

Probably if the cheese has more than 4 ingredients it is thought to be processed.

Real cheese has milk, usually some sort of cultures, or maybe vinegar or rennet, and sometimes salt.

Fake cheese can be made out of soy or other non-dairy products.

The only way I’ve been able to tell is by the “yuck factor” of chewing and then feeling my face squinch up as to shout, ”what the f**k is that about!!!” The fake cheese kinda smells like cheese, melts like cheese, slices like cheese and looks like cheese but I’m sorry folks, it doesn’t taste anything like cheese.

I have a mother who keeps trying to mess around with my love of cheese. She’s convinced she’ll find some magick block of gunk from Trader Joe’s I’ll actually swallow~

I’m old enough to remember cheese before there was process cheese. Nowdays they seem to call it “natural cheese” vs “natural cheese”, and it should say so on the label. Compared to processed cheese it’s much less processed, with fewer ingredients. Processed cheese has a sheen to it that regular cheese doesn’t have, and when you heat it up, such as on a piece of toast under the boiler, it grows this giant bubble, and it browns on top. I think it also has a distinctive smell and taste as well.

What steams me is when I went to the deli and asked for sharp cheddar and they handed me processed sharp cheddar. When i took it back to get the real stuff, the lady said, “But it’s quality cheese!” Humph!

@snowberry Natural cheese vs natural cheese? I’m missing something.

OOPS. @Aethelflaed Natural cheese vs. Process cheese. On the packages in my grocery stores it’s always on the label. Somewhere. Sorry about that!

@snowberry Lol oh! Ok. Now I’m with ya!

So, they had processed cheese in the deli? Where they keep all the good cheese? How did you tell right there? I’m rather afraid that some of the lower-end cheeses that I’ve been eating are actually processed cheese, even though they don’t say they are.

@Aethelflaed Read the label on processed cheese like Velveeta, vs. a Natural cheese such as Colby. There are fewer ingredients with the natural, and most of them you can pronounce. However, I do not know if stuff like this is required. According to Wikipedia processed cheese is defined in Code of Federal Regulations, and if that’s the case, so should Natural cheese. I didn’t take the time to read through it. Here it is anyway. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_of_Federal_Regulations I did a search and came up with this. Apparently we have other definitions besides “processed cheese” such as “cheese food” I glanced through the list, and also saw soft cheese, and I’m wondering if it might be something like Camembert.