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Process cheese is made with real cheese that is blended with other ingredients and pasteurized. This creates a smooth, consistent, flavorful product that’s ideal for melting and saucing. Process cheeses are often used for dishes across all day parts because they can enhance the flavor and craveablility of so many different menu items.
Benefits and capabilities
- Functionality
- Meltability is a key differentiator for process cheese. When melted, process cheese has a smooth, consistent texture and it doesn’t oil off, making it ideal for hot applications. Additionally, the melt properties of process cheese can be tailored to specific needs. For example, restricted melt cheeses are used in applications where it needs to withstand high heat or situations where it will need to be frozen, thawed, and heated like frozen sandwiches.
- Longer shelf life
- Process cheese has a significantly longer shelf life than natural cheese, which gives customers a longer period to consume it and reduces food waste.
- Formats
- To suit the various needs of retail and foodservice customers, process cheese comes in a variety of sizes and formats. Singles and slices are pre-portioned so they are easy to use in applications like grilled cheese or burgers. Schreiber has loaf and pouch formats of process cheese which are commonly used for saucing. Shredded and diced formats require no preparation and are often used when ease of use is important allowing them to be easily incorporated into dishes.
- Flavors
- In addition to functionality, process cheese delivers consistent flavor that can be customized for different trends and applications. While the most common type of process cheese is American, there are a variety of flavors including Cheddar, Swiss, and Pepper Jack.
Performance
- Performance and applications
- Slice and singles
- Adding process cheese slices and singles to a hot application can take a dish from good to great while offering a premium meltability that consumers love. Slices and singles are commonly used for hot sandwiches like burgers, grilled cheese, and breakfast sandwiches. Of course, process cheese can be used in cold applications like deli sandwiches and wraps, too. The pre-sliced format offers significant convenience in food preparation. Because it doesn’t require additional handling, it helps streamline processes in restaurants, quick-serve chains, and even household kitchens.
- Loaf
- Loaf products are commonly formulated for saucing applications like queso, but melting loaves can also be used as a base for dishes like mac and cheese and casseroles. Process cheese loaves can also be used in deli slicing for sandwiches or shredded for topping dishes.
- Pouch
- Our cheese sauce pouches are a convenient saucing option that can be used to top vegetables and fries, create queso for Mexican dishes, or as a base for pasta dishes.
- Shredded
- Shredded process cheese performance goes beyond just taste. It allows operators and households to garnish dishes like chili cheese hot dogs, baked potatoes, and salads with a more cost-effective solution than natural.
- Diced
- Unlike regular natural cheese, which tends to melt too easily and break down during high-temperature cooking processes, the ¼” diced restricted melt cheese maintains its form and texture delivering consistent results in all your favorite recipes like stuffed burgers and sausages.
- Slice and singles