American cheese on burgers: Good or bad?

(NEXSTAR) — Wednesday, Sept. 18 is National Cheeseburger Day and there’s no better time to debate the details of a burger. When it comes to cheese on a burger, many restaurants give a variety of options — but some only offer one.

American cheese is as beloved as it is controversial. While some experts tout American as the perfect cheese for a hamburger (owing to its ideal melting properties), others say it’s the worst possible cheese you could put on a hamburger. Or even some of the worst cheese you could eat, period.

You only need to search “American cheese” and “Reddit” to find dozens of threads of hamburger lovers, cheese fans and food savants debating the merits of American. One particularly popular conversation, fittingly in the Unpopular Opinion subreddit , opined: “American cheese on burgers is disgusting.”

“The hyper-processed plastic-like cheese whose only good quality is that it melts well. When did that become more important than the actually taste?” wrote the original poster. “The worst is when I go to places that boast about their high quality beef yet will throw a slab of that mess on afterward.”

Ultimately what is learned through the discussion is that many people’s problems with American cheese are actually with the cheap, mass-produced American cheese singles that come in plastic wrapping. You know which ones.

“American cheese is different from the processed sandwich slices,” one user replied.

Many users pointed out that a lot of people are confusing the sliced, plastic-like cheeses that come in individual wrappers with actual American cheese. These typically don’t contain enough real cheese to constitute being called American cheese, according to U.S. Food and Drug Administration guidelines (more on that below). Additionally, many argued that these days, there are cheese brands and local companies that create higher quality American cheeses.

Last year, in a blind taste test, Uproxx writer Vince Mancini performed an American cheese blind taste test on brands that can be found at most national grocery stores. Mancini’s top three was composed of what he called “cheese products that actually taste like cheese.”

Boar’s Head American and Boar’s Head White American Cheese easily grabbed Mancini’s third and second places, respectively, while Primo Taglio White American took top honors as the best tasting and most “real cheese” feeling.

Many responded to American cheese hate threads to go to bat for the much-maligned processed cheese. So if you think you’re an American cheese hater, it might be time to figure out: Have you just been eating bad American cheese?

What is American cheese?

“American cheese” is a processed cheese that typically is a combination of melting two or more chunks of cheese — typically cheddar, Colby, and/or Swiss — into a single chunk. Food Network explains American cheese can be either yellow or white, depending on whether or not a food coloring called annatto has been added.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration explains in its Code of Federal Regulations that “cheese food” is created by combining one or more of its approved cheese ingredients with one of its approved dairy ingredients (cream, milk).

The major rule that differentiates “cheese food” from cheese is that a processed cheese must contain at least 51% real cheese (these can be combined cheeses or not). Since the plasticky single-wrapped slices people sometimes conflate with American cheese don’t typically meet this 51% threshold, they are often instead called “cheese food” or “cheese product.”

Also added? An emulsifying agent (a common one is sodium citrate) is what gives American cheese its strength from falling apart when melting. The emulsifying agent is why many consider American cheese perfect for hamburgers.

Is American cheese ‘real’ cheese?

According to the FDA, American cheese is not real cheese , but not every pale yellow slice qualifies as “American cheese,” either. More often than not, you’ll see American cheese referred to as a “pasteurized process cheese” or a “processed cheese.”

The “processed” part is the important distinction — and it’s the one behind much of the hatred toward American cheese.

If all of this is confusing, it’s helpful to think of it this way: There’s cheese, there’s American cheese and then there’s cheese product. American cheese is generally more “real” than cheese product but it isn’t what’s considered “natural.”

“I would say it’s not technically a natural cheese where milk is coagulated in curds which are then formed into a cheese, but it is composed of natural cheese,” Mystic Cheese Co. cheesemaker Brian Civitello told Food Network . “I think it’s a chicken or the egg scenario for me.”

Whatever your choice for cheese, make sure to enjoy a big, mouth-watering burger this Wednesday. And be sure to look out for National Cheeseburger Day deals nationwide.

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