Does melted cheese taste different to you than cold cheese?

Hot cheese tastes different from cold, but I like both.

I’m not really picky, but yes—they taste different to me. I used to microwave crackers with cheese and pepperoni on them (minimalist pizza perhaps) and I’d watch the cheese bubble and pop. When I took them out, there’d be oil on the bottom, so you can conclude that the cheese changed form somehow, which could explain the change of taste.
I even think that room-temperature cheese tastes different than cold cheese. Room-temperature cheese is blander. Cold cheese has more flavor. It’s like how butter changes when at room temperature.

Heat does alter the flavor and fragrance a bit, but the biggest difference is textural. I love cheese, cold or warm; but I find gooey melted cheese to have that comfort-food satisfaction.

@dxs
Room-temperature cheese is blander. Cold cheese has more flavor.

I think you will find it is the other way around.

@dxs and @ragingloli – Perhaps the fact that when we eat cold cheese, it gets warmed and softened in our mouth which causes it to release more flavor in the process? Similar to letting chocolate melt in your mouth?

@hearkat @ragingloli I think I’ve heard people say that room-temperature butter has more flavor, but I always found it to be the opposite. I’m not sure what most other people say about cheese, but I definitely think colder cheese has a more distinct, crisper flavor than room-temperature cheese. That’s just my opinion.

Warming the cheese increases the intensity of it’s flavor. Some cheeses are better warm, some better cold. If you melt the cheese enough to caramelize it or brown it that would change the flavor.

Interesting what people say about intensity of flavor cold, room temp or melted. I don’t think melted has more flavor; I think the opposite. Browning the cheese is definitely another change in flavor, and I tend to want the cheese browned, but if it is in the middle of a sandwich that obviously doesn’t happen. I can’t really describe why I hate cold cheese and why I like it melted. I am kind of picky about cheese anyway, even melted, but of those that I will eat melted, I won’t eat them cold.

They definitely don’t taste the same, and there’s the texture difference. I like both, depending on the dish. I don’t like room temperature cheeses – it’s one of those foods that should either be cold or hot.

One difference is in how the flavors and aromas become available to your senses. The same things is true of chocolate, which is similar in that there are aromas that are given off from the cold product, and there are other flavors and aromas that are bound up in the fat and only become available when the fat melts.

When you pop a piece of solid cheese (or chocolate) into your mouth, the first wave of sensation is mostly aromatic, via the “back door” of the air circulating from the back of your throat up to the olfactory glands in your nasal passages . The fat is still solid, and many of the flavors and aromas are wrapped up in that fat and will only unfold as the fat melts. So your experience evolves over time. At the beginning, there’s a chance for subtler aromas to shine before they become overwhelmed by the full frontal assault that follows.

When you put melted cheese in your mouth, all of the flavors and aromas are immediately available. It’s a more intense experience, but subtleties tend to get lost in the fray.

I’ve never thought about the cheese tasting different when it’s warm or cold, but then there’s never been a cheese I turned away. I love it all.

I never thought much about it either. I’ll eat it hot, cold, room temp. It’s yummy at any temperature.
My son hates cheese. The only way he’ll eat it is on pizza.

@Katniss
How can someone not like some grated parmigiano on spaghetti bolognese?
You need to flog him.

Well…

I only like American cheese melted. Unless it’s Land O’ Lakes yellow American, then I like it cold as well, but ONLY if it’s sliced super thinly.

I like Velveeta cold or melted, but the slices only melted.

I like Swiss if it’s melted but not cold.

Cheddar is melted only except if there are crackers and then I’ll eat it room temp.

It depends on the cheese.

I like brie either way.
I prefer fresh mozzarella cold.
I prefer monterey jack melted.

American “cheese” is disgusting.

@Seek_Kolinahr: I fully acknowledge that my idea of cheese is not what most people think… lol. And I know Velveeta isn’t cheese but I can’t help it. :)

Woah, hello. This is the question for me. I hate cold cheese and I do not eat it, ever, never have, never will. Well, maybe I will someday, but I don’t foresee it happening anytime soon! Anyhow, I generally am not a cheese fan, but I do eat melted cheese on pizza, sandwiches such as a french dip (one of my favorites), omelets, potatoes, etc. I don’t really have a problem with cheese if its melted but I’m still pickier than most. I won’t eat bleu cheese, feta cheese, other less common and smelly cheeses. I think when the cheese is melted it has less taste which is why I can handle it. Also, when it’s cold, I don’t like the texture. It is thick and creamy to me, and I hate that. Even when it’s melted and it begins to coagulate, I won’t eat the coagulated chunk. It is truly a worst nightmare. I also want to add that I have tried cold cheese (like good cheese, at parties, being eaten with crackers) and I absolutely loathe it. Time and time again. So that’s the sad truth, people make fun of me for it a lot. But personally I’m glad I don’t like cheese. I not only have a raging sweet tooth that seems to be along for life, but I also am a die hard pasta fan. If cheese were thrown into the mixture, I’d be dead at 30.

I suspect the preference might be textural, @JLeslie. All my life I’ve thought marshmallows are disgusting, unless toasted or melted (like on sweet potatoes). It’s the texture. You also can’t make Jello that I like, and if you put whip cream near it, I get a gag reflex.

That said, I love cheese! Panera Bread has promised me a grilled blue cheese sandwich with onions, and I’m saving the experience for a special occasion!

Omg! Grilled blue cheese?? Sounds phenomenal.

HA! I agree @Katniss!
I’ve been having blue cheese, onion and ranch sandwiches at the deli, but the last time I was in there, the woman refused. I asked at Panera and the manager not only allowed they could make them grilled, but that they sounded delicious, and claimed that’s what he was going to have for dinner.
I’m saving it for an ”occasion”. Makes my mouth water thinking about it! :-)~

@deni I’m glad I am not the only one! I too am very thankful I don’t like it, I am clogging my arteries already without it. Also, @poofandmook and @Seek_Kolinahr make me glad I am not the only “Sally” in the crowd.

@JLeslie I know, I have one friend that feels the same as me about cheese temperatures. Other than that, everyone is a cheese fiend and thinks I’m crazy!

@Seek_Kolinahr
American cheese is not cheese.
It is yellow industrial sludge.

@deni There is a British car show called Top Gear and they often make fun of Americans. Usually it is about us being fat, and I have also heard them make fun of how we put cheese on everything. It’s all in fun, but as most jokes go, there is a bit of truth in it.

I mean, there is no reason why anyone should buy that.
It tastes bad, it has a horrible texture and each slice has its own plastic wrapping because otherwise the slices would fuse together. And it is not even cheaper than real cheese either. Its very existence is baffling to me.

Yes, melted cheese tastes quite different, and obviously it has a very different texture. I love cheese, both melted and cold, but I like melted cheese in different dishes than I like cold cheese.

For instance pizza would be really weird with cold cheese, and an un-toasted sandwich with lettuce and tomatoes would be really weird with melted cheese poured onto it.

I love salads with little chunks of cold cheese on top. I love mac and cheese with melted cheese. I like crackers with slices of cold cheese and quesadillas with melted cheese.

I love cold blue cheese salad dressing, with chunks of cheese in it. I also love a warm artichoke dip with melted Gruyere and Parmesan cheese in it.

@Kardamom un-toasted sandwich with lettuce and tomatoes would be really weird with melted cheese poured onto it. I wasn’t even thinking of “liquid” cheese at all. I don’t even really consider it cheese, although I admit to sometimes buying the Tostitoes cheese dip for chips. I don’t eat it with chips though I use it for picante macaroni/penne and cheese, sometimes I add ground beef. Either way the cheese barely covers the pasta, it isn’t really very cheesy. One of those throw together half homemade type dishes that probably only Americans make. LOL. Like the aptly named product America cheese, which everyone I know from outside of America cannot wrap their minds around, and some Americans included like @Seek_Kolinahr.

@JLeslie Ha Ha, no I wasn’t even thinking about that kind of cheese. I was thinking that it would be weird to melt up some cheese in a ceramic dish, and then scoop the melted, but real, cheese onto a cold sandwich.

In Mexico they make this dish called Rajas con Crema that is basically roasted peppers and cheese, melted together, then you scoop it up with tortillas. That’s what I was thinking of. It’s one of the most divine things I’ve ever eaten.

Although, I do love that nasty yellow cheese that they dump on Nachos too. Sort of like the Mexicanized version of American cheese. I love American cheese on cheeseburgers (veggie, but I do remember the real kind) too.

Velveeta is basically gelatin and oil. That’s not cheese. And it’s super-salty. I don’t like that at all.

I do love Beer Cheese Soup.

When it comes to company potlucks, I always get raves from my cheese platters. Plus it’s so simple to put together, all you gotta do is cut some of the cheese into squares and leave the rest whole, so people can see what it looks like in it’s original form. I usually choose 4 or 5 different kinds, so there’s different colors and textures. Serve on a pretty platter and it looks like you’re super-talented. I might choose an orange colored sharp cheddar, a soft white goat cheese (maybe rolled in chopped herbs or paprika) a green and a red wax covered cheese, such as Gouda (red) or Dubliner Cheese with Irish Stout (green) and a Swiss cheese such as Gruyère with holes in it. All served cold with crackers or sliced baguettes.

@Kardamom Almost all Mexican cheeses are bland and what I would call unsophisticated, but funny enough the Mexicans I know generally are stunned by yellow American cheese and look down on it. I find it ironic. My husband is Mexican remember. He does like American cheese, but his family is bothered by how Americanized he is about many many things. Also, I do like the basic mild white cheese his mom uses. Melted. LOL. They also like Manchego, which has more sharpness. My husband likes the Kraft Vermont extra sharp white cheddar I buy in the block. Only sharp cheddar I like. Still has to be melted. Has to be the Vermont cheddar in the green wrap. So good as a grilled cheese on rye.

By the way, Queso oaxaca is very melty loose, I’m not very fond of it, and crema is creme like sour cream, just not sour. Not my thing at all. Queso fundido more my style. Melted cheeses that are a little more firm.

@JLeslie I love Mexican cheeses such as Cotija and queso fresco.

Most standard Californianized Mexican restaurants use both cheddar and jack and sometimes cotija cheese in their dishes. But I was told by some Mexican people, that cheddar is a definite no no in authentic Mexican dishes. But I like it all!

Yeah, my husband would never use cheddar in a Mexican dish, and I never see cheddar in my MIL’s fridge. My cheddar recommendation was grilled cheese on rye. Take it from my Jewish-American side. :) Actually, tacos have no cheese. If they melt the cheese it becomes like a quesadilla. If I make a taco (soft taco) of pork or chicken at a real Mexican place it doesn’t have cheese on it.

I haven’t bought “con queso” dip in years.

1 pkg. Philadelphia cream cheese
1 can black beans, drained
1 can corn (I prefer white) drained
1 regular-sized jar salsa – hot as you like (I normally do medium)
Melt it all together.

Doable in a microwave in less than five minutes.

For a full dinner I melt it all together in a saucepan and layer with seasoned taco meat or tofu (it’s the only way my husband has ever not believed it was tofu), black olives, tomatoes, and pepperjack cheese, and stick it under a broiler for a few minutes.

@Seek_Kolinahr I hate cream cheese, but I bet most people would love that recipe. I can kind of toerate cream cheese icing. I hate cheesecake though and dislike when cheese is used in poppers.

@JLeslie That’s funny about the tacos, because I’ve never seen a taco without cheese on it. But like I said, we’ve Califonianized our Mexican food, but it’s all good! The more authentic places use Cotija cheese on tacos.

One of our little take out taco joints makes these excellent potato tacos, with shredded cheddar, sprinkled Cotija cheese, shredded lettuce and diced tomatoes. They’re fantastic!

Cream cheese…weird stuff. I love it but I feel awkward calling it a cheese.

@JLeslie My favorite way to eat cream cheese is with cranberry chutney poured over a block of cream cheese (cold of course) and then you dig into it with Triscuits.

@Kardamom On this wikipedia page about tacos, the one taco with cheese, the first one listed, says it is sometimes called a “gringo” taco. We used to go to a Mexican place in TN where the owner had a sign up that for all the people from border states like California and Texas to let them know that even if they think they know what a taco is, no he will not put cheese their taco. He also had signs that if you are in a rush too bad, he is going to help each customer until they are comfortable with what they order and answer all questions. It was the type if place you line up and order then sit down and they make the food fresh. The guy was from Mexico City, his kid went to the same high school as my husband. The food was amazing, but pretty much the simple stuff, tacos, sandwiches (tortas) and some various appetizers.

@JLeslie We used to have a couple of restaurants in my town that specialized in food from Mexico City. It was soooooo good. That’s where I first encountered the rajas. Both of the places I used to frequent went out of business : (

On the other hand, you can find “Mexican” food on just about every street corner in Southern California, in every incarnation you can think of. And it’s all good!

One of my friends lives in Colorado and she says they don’t have any decent Mexican food there. She lives in Denver. A relative recently moved to New Orleans and she said they also don’t have any decent Mexican food. What a bummer for both of them.

I like both but I think they do taste somewhat different but the texture is very different. My partner will also eat only melted cheese and won’t touch it if it’s cold.

I prefer cold cheeses but on occasion, like with a Subway hot sandwich I’ll get it melted. Melty cheese can be greasy tasting to me.

Now give me a nice spread of soft and hard cheeses (as on a tray) & I’m in. Fondue not so much, it actually makes me almost nauseous to think about a big pot of melted cheese- ugh.

@Kardamom I can never know if what someone calls decent or good Mexican food is really good. It’s like trusting someone from Alabama to recommend an Italian place or pizza, I don’t trust their opinion and tastes to be like mine. Although, just to defend AL, I had really good Japanese Hbachi in little ol’ Dothan, AL. Now, what I did learn in TN is if someone tells us a Mexican restaurant is great (people recmmended Mexican restaurants a lot to us when they learned my husband is Mexican) and while talking about the restaurant mentions how fabulous the margaritas are, pretty sure bet the food sucks. Mention of margaritas was a huge red flag.

@KNOWITALL – You would not like raclette then… It’s so good, for those of us who love cheese.

@hearkat I’d have to try it, if it doesn’t seperate and get oily, I can deal with it in small doses…lol

@KNOWITALL – It depends on the cheese… raclette cheese itself does not separate, but there are others that do. We use a variety of cheeses for raclette, it is soooo yummy.

“You can never have too much cheese!”

Hot or cold. Blue, American, cream, Colby, Swiss, Parmesan. Big molten pots, or thin slices cold. Room temperature on hot, fresh baked bread and real butter. Dip it, slice it, heat it up. Layer it, then sprinkle a little grated on the top!

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, Cheese!

(Um, hold the Velveeta.)

Instead of a gingerbread house, maybe next year I should make a Cheese house! Or cut out cheese men!

Check This out. Whoever said diamonds were a girl’s best friend? They were wrong.

Ooooh! @Kardamom do you think we could get the temperature just right for a…OMG! O.M.G. They already did it!

Hedonism. Chocolate and cheese! Our fountains runneth over. :-)

NO DOUBLE DIPPING!

Did you know that Wisconsin is using salty cheese brine mixed with rock salt to de-ice some of their roads?

Yeah, cheese is awesome.

@ibstubro Wow! That is impressive.

@ibstubro I think Velveeta is the nastiest cheese-like substance made next to Cheez Whiz – shudder

To think that I took warn bologna and Velveeta sandwiches to school lunch for years, @KNOWITALL. Bleh, spit. I do remember coming home one day and telling mom, “No, more warm Velveeta! Oh, and please go a little heavier on the mustard.”

Warm Velveeta is akin to caulk.

@ibstubro Velveeta is bad, but Cheez Whiz is even worse.

We never did Cheez Whiz. Probably too expensive, lol. 2–3 years ago was the first time I ever even opened a jar and saw it in person. It was for a very unimpressive broccoli-rice casserole someone insisted I make.

On the other hand, I just came back with Trader Joe’s White Stilton with Cranberries. They only have it right before Thanksgiving through New Year’s day week and then it’s gone. I don’t know if it would freeze well, but I might cut off a piece and try it and see how it goes. Then I might buy more tomorrow.

This is like the cheese that Jesus would serve to Santa Claus at his holiday party.

@Kardamom Why? Because it is red and white? Somehow I see Santa eating string chees or yellow cheddar. I guess I Americanize him. Also, apple pie, ginger snaps, and drinking a glass of milk. Although, if I remember correctly he is loyal to Coca Cola. Isn’t Coke credited with creating the modern day Santa by some.

“This is like the cheese that Jesus would serve to Santa Claus at his holiday party.”

Because I thought it missed something the first time around?