Lenten macaroni and cheese a menu tradition
When I published my original “From the Farm” cookbook in 2004, I included a recipe for a Low-Fat Macaroni and Cheese recipe from the file of our farmwife friend down the road Joann Scamerhorn. In a later column, I made reference to Mrs. Scamerhorn also having an even richer and creamier version of her macaroni and cheese, which is a menu must every Easter on the family’s dining room table spread.
Voila! Readers called and wrote with zest and insistence, asking for that “other” recipe to be printed, which I did, and was later captured in the 2007 follow-up cookbook “More From the Farm.” As for that not-so-secret ingredient used for the creamy and smooth texture of Mrs. Scamerhorn’s signature macaroni and cheese recipe: Velveeta Processed Cheese
Macaroni and cheese is a favorite comfort food recipe which remains especially popular during the Lenten Season. Throughout the years, I’ve published many varied recipes for macaroni and cheese, including one history-rich version said to be the favorite of Beethoven dating back to the early 1800s.
Years ago I did a media visit to the famed Kraft Test Kitchens at the Kraft Foods headquarters in Chicago and was surprised to learn about the ages-old history of Velveeta as one of this brand’s most popular products.
No, Velveeta was not around as an ingredient during the decades Beethoven was enjoying his macaroni and cheese recipe.
But it might surprise readers that Velveeta’s launch dates back to 1918 when it was first created and sold by Emil Frey of the Monroe Cheese Company based in New York. Prized because it boasted a rich and delicious flavor reminiscent of American cheese (yet is softer and melts with a smoother and shiny consistency rather than lumpy or separated like pure cheeses), by 1923 the Velveeta brand had branched out into its own company, before it was sold and swallowed up by Kraft in 1927.
The 1930s had Velveeta hailed as a “super food” of the future, “packed with nutrition.” It earned the distinction of being “the first cheese product to receive the American Medical Association’s Seal of Approval.” By the 1950s, changes in FDA regulations forced the brand to label packaging to describe it as “a cheese spread,” and by 2002, as step further in product description came for it as
“a pasteurized prepared cheese product.”
The name “Velveeta” was designed as a nod to the product’s “velvety smooth” consistency which comes from the manufacturing process of how the cheese “whey” and “curd” components are “reincorporated.”
The product also contains a generous amount of milk and milk protein. I grew up in the 1980s singing along with the Velveeta commercial’s catchy jingle which boasted each block or slice contained a trio of cheeses “Colby, Swiss and Cheddar, all blended together” as key ingredients to Velveeta at the time.
On Super Bowl Sunday, I used Velveeta as my key ingredient to a simple chili-cheese dip served with tortilla chips, which is a recipe that also harkens back to my youth.
My oldest niece Bethany, daughter of my oldest brother Tom, celebrates her 43rd birthday on March 8, and she makes a baked macaroni and cheese which rivals the rich and delicious recipe standard whipped up by Mrs. Scamerhorn. The two primary contrasts of the recipes is Bethany’s recipe includes cream cheese, while Mrs. Scamerhorn’s does not, though the latter recipe adds additional seasonings like dry mustard and paprika.