Компания Sargento представила натуральный американский сыр, сохраняющий идеальную тягучесть классического продукта

Every summer, Rudy’s Drive-In in La Crosse brings diners back to another era. Carhops zoom by on roller skates, balancing frosty mugs of root beer and baskets of food that are paid for with cash. On the griddle inside is another piece of nostalgia: golden slices of American cheese melting over burgers. “It’s just the way it melts — you get the string pull off it,” said owner Justin Smith. “We use it on our chili dogs, too. Just the way it looks and melts down, it’s perfect.” Understanding Wisconsin, Together. WPR’s “Wisconsin Today” newsletter keeps you connected to the state you love without feeling overwhelmed. No paywall. No agenda. No corporate filter. American cheese is known in the industry as processed pasteurized cheese. That perfect melt is part of why the product has remained popular since Kraft first debuted its cheese slices in the 1950s. But like other foods popular in the Space Age — Jell-O salads, TV dinners and Tang — American cheese is regarded as a highly processed, highly artificial food. As more brands strive to promote their foods as healthy or “natural,” the additives in American cheese have kept it stuck in the past. Now, Wisconsin-based cheese company Sargento hopes to update the processed classic to reflect how consumers are eating today. The company debuted its natural American cheese on store shelves last year. “We have watched a long migration of people from processed American slices to natural slices,” said Rod Hogan, senior vice president of innovation at Sargento. “We think part of it has been about flavor and variety. Part of it has also been about just this desire for cleaner-label, more natural foods.” Even as more consumers made the switch, Hogan said the team at Sargento realized there were aspects of American cheese that kept some shoppers buying the processed option. It’s why the company set out on what would become a decade-long journey to develop a cheese that could do both: provide the even, creamy texture of melted American with the short, simple ingredient list of natural cheese. The science behind the melt The unrivaled melt of American cheese isn’t an accident. It all comes down to the chemistry that led processors to add ingredients to natural cheese as a way to transform it into something new. Cheese is created when an enzyme called rennet causes the proteins in milk to stick together in a loose network, trapping the milk’s butterfat and forming a solid. This fragile protein structure is compromised when cheese is heated, changing the texture of cheese and creating an oily sheen “You’ll see literally butterfat start to come out of it, and you’ll see this stringy, kind of gloppy mess,” said Lloyd Metzger, vice president of quality and technical services at Valley Queen Cheese in South Dakota and the leading expert on processed cheese. Metzger said processors found they could avoid this separation — and give cheese a longer shelf life — by flipping the natural chemistry of cheese on its head. They melted the natural cheese and thoroughly mixed it with an emulsifying salt, causing the proteins to latch on directly to the fat. It creates what Metzger called a “fat-protein complex that’s stuck together.” And that’s what gives American cheese its melt. “When you re-melt it afterwards, it’s going to be this beautiful, smooth, even, velvety melt that you won’t ever get out of natural cheese,” Metzger said. This process is largely credited to the company that eventually became Kraft Foods. Founder J. L. Kraft first set out to make a shelf-stable cheese around 1906. The individually-wrapped Kraft singles of the 1960s eventually became the benchmark for the category. But Metzger said it’s not surprising that consumers are often suspicious of the product’s longevity and mysterious ingredients like “trisodium citrate.” “If I called it ‘salt and lemon juice’, the American consumer would be fine with it,” he joked. “But it’s understandable that a consumer would not understand what that is and what it does.” A decade of trial-and-error pays off For Sargento, developing the one-of-a-kind variety took years of trial and error by the company’s research and development team. At its technical center in Elkhart Lake, John Rodgers, vice president of research and development, fires up a flattop griddle for what he calls the gold standard for American cheese performance: a grilled cheese sandwich. He estimates his team made thousands of the sandwiches over the roughly 10 years it took to develop and market the new product, which hit store shelves last year. Rodgers said the project was nearly shelved after an early model was a flop. “We thought we had a cheese that was pretty close. We actually put it to a consumer test, and it failed miserably,” he said. “We were on the cusp of like, ‘Do we really think we can continue forward with this?’” That failure ended up being a turning point for the project, according to Hogan. He said the company stopped focusing on how to get the product to consumers and instead concentrated on the scientific breakthroughs needed to create the one-of-kind variety. But Sargento isn’t the only company hoping to reimagine — and rebrand — the beloved golden slices. New School American Cheese launched in Los Angeles in 2022, offering a “clean label” version of processed cheese. Its product, which is made by a contract processor in Wisconsin, starts with aged cheddar and adds butter, cream and the emulsifying salt needed to transform it into American. Alan Leavitt, one of the brand’s founders, said its focus has been marketing to the food service industry, where chefs have long struggled with wanting the melting performance of American in a product worth including on a high-end menu. “You could be intentional about sourcing your beef and your vegetables,” he said. “Maybe you even baked your own bun in house. You might hand whisk your own mayo, and then, before New School came along, there was never an American cheese that would meet the quality standards of your plate.” The future of American in a MAHA world Leavitt said he doesn’t think New School will remain in a class of its own, despite growing opposition to foods seen as “ultra-processed”. As part of President Donald Trump’s Make America Health Again push, the federal nutrition guidance released in January calls for a “dramatic reduction in highly processed foods” in Americans’ diets and the recommendation to consume more “real food” without additives Leavitt thinks this push for cleaner labels won’t kill American cheese, but will drive more companies to create their own take on a lower-ingredient slice. “I tend to believe that it will lead to a larger segment of the population who wants to understand what’s in their American cheese and how it’s made, and might be willing to pay a premium for something that they feel more comfortable (with),” he said. For Sargento, helping consumers understand the difference between their new product and the processed American cheese of the past has been a critical part of the rollout. Hogan said the packaging was designed for the product to sit on the shelf next to the processed options, rather than hang with the natural cheese slices. He said the company hopes not only to give processed cheese buyers a new natural option, but also to invite those who have moved away from American cheese to enjoy the nostalgia once again. “We want to give the natural cheese user the option to come back into a category that they actually love,” Hogan said. Editor’s note: This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Alan Leavitt. Transcript Collapse Transcript Terms of Use Transcripts are provided for accessibility and convenience and may be created using a mix of automated tools and human review. While we strive for accuracy, transcripts may contain errors or omissions and are provided "as is" without warranties of any kind. The audio version is the official record of WPR programming. All transcripts are owned by WPR and protected by U.S. and international copyright law. They are provided for personal, non-commercial use only. You may not reproduce, modify, distribute, or use transcripts for public or commercial purposes without prior written permission from WPR. For permissions, contact [email protected]. Speaker 1 • 00:00 A cheeseburger is an iconic part of any late summer cookout, and American cheese is critical to achieving that desired gooey melt. As consumers shift away from processed foods though, one Wisconsin company is hoping its natural cheese version of the processed classic will keep this tradition alive. Hope Kerwin has more on the new product and why American cheese has stayed popular through the years. Speaker 2 • 00:30 Every summer, Rudy’s drive-in in lacrosse brings diners back to another era. Car hops on roller skates balance frosty mugs of root beer and baskets of food. On the griddle inside is another relic, slices of gooey American cheese melting over burgers. Speaker 3 • 00:47 It’s just the the way it melts. You get the string pole off it. Speaker 2 • 00:52 Owner Justin Smith says American cheese is a key part of the nostalgia of Rudy’s, and its performance in the kitchen is unmatched. Speaker 3 • 01:00 Use it on our chili dogs too, just the way it looks. Melts down. It’s perfect. Speaker 2 • 01:05 Processed cheese was once seen as the way of the future, rising to popularity during the age of TV dinners and other convenience items. But in recent years, consumers are moving away from products considered artificial in favor of clean label foods with fewer ingredients. The movement has recently been in the spotlight thanks to the Trump administration’s focus on reducing consumption of ultra-processed foods. Now, Wisconsin Cheese Company Sargento is hoping to capture the best of both worlds by giving nostalgia seekers a real cheese alternative to American cheese. Here’s Rod Hogan, Sargento’s Senior Vice President of Innovation. Speaker 4 • 01:48 The way I think about it, updated it for the way Americans are eating today. Speaker 2 • 01:52 Their new natural American cheese debuted on store shelves across the country last year. And to understand why this product is in a league of its own, cheesemaker Lloyd Metzger says you have to understand the science behind processed cheese. Speaker 5 • 02:06 So it’s really literally all about the milk. Speaker 2 • 02:08 At a molecular level, natural cheese is a loose network of proteins with milk’s butterfat trapped inside. But Metzger, who’s considered the leading expert on processed cheese, says this fragile protein structure is compromised when the cheese melts. Speaker 5 • 02:23 So you’ll see, you know, literally butter fat start to come out of it, and you’ll see this stringy, kinda gloppy mess. Speaker 2 • 02:30 He says processors discovered they could avoid this separation by forcing the milk proteins to latch directly on to the fat. The process involves mixing melted cheese with an emulsifying salt, changing the chemistry of the product altogether. Speaker 5 • 02:44 Now when you remelt it afterwards, it’s going to be this beautiful smooth even velvety melt that you won’t ever get out of natural cheese. Speaker 2 • 02:53 Metzger says what’s exciting about Sargento’s new product is that it forms this protein fat pairing without using the emulsifying salt or the cooking process. According to John Rogers, Sargento’s Vice President of Research and Development, it took roughly a decade of trial and error to get the science just right. At the company’s technical center in Elkhart Lake, he mans a flat top griddle to demonstrate what he calls the gold standard for American cheese performance. a grilled cheese sandwich. Speaker 6 • 03:21 I think the team here at Sargento has probably made thousands of grilled cheese to get to the point that we’re at with Natural American for sure. Speaker 2 • 03:28 He butters slices of bread and adds the natural American. After toasting on each side, along with a few minutes steaming under a lid, it’s ready for me to try. That’s a good that’s a good grilled cheese. That melt is definitely you can tell the difference. The taste and feel of the creamy golden center takes me right back to my childhood days of craft singles Hogan from Sargento says that’s the whole point. For years their company has been slowly converting the people who grew up on American cheese to natural. That always meant sacrificing the mild flavor and even melt of processed cheese. Speaker 4 • 04:06 So now we want to give the natural cheese user the option to come back into a category that they actually love. Speaker 2 • 04:12 He says their new product is shelved right next to the processed slices. hopefully making it clear to consumers that it’s a new, natural take on the beloved classic. Hope Kerwin, Wisconsin Public Radio.