Cheese sauce facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Cheese sauce

Broccoli with cheese sauce, at a restaurant in Semarang, Indonesia
Alternative names	Cheese dip, cheese dipping sauce
Serving temperature	Can be served cold, warm or hot
Main ingredients	Cheese, sometimes prepared using processed cheese, dried cheese, or cheese powder

Cheese sauce is a yummy sauce made mostly from cheese! Sometimes, people use special processed cheese, dried cheese, or even cheese powder to make it. There are many different kinds of cheese sauces, and they are used in lots of dishes. You can also buy cheese sauce already made in stores, either as a liquid or a dry mix. Restaurants and food companies use these prepared sauces too, for things like macaroni and cheese or frozen meals.

Types of Cheese Sauce

Many different sauces use cheese as their main ingredient. Here are some popular ones:

• Alfredo sauce: An American sauce inspired by the Italian dish Fettuccine Alfredo. It's often creamy and rich.
• Blue cheese dressing: A tangy sauce often used on salads or with chicken wings.
• Caruso sauce: A sauce from South America.
• Cheddar sauce: A classic sauce made with cheddar cheese.
• Chile con queso: This sauce is super smooth and creamy. It's very popular in the American Southwest, especially with tortilla chips.
• Crab dip: A dip that often includes cheese and crab meat.
• Mornay sauce: A French sauce that starts with a white sauce called béchamel, then adds cheese.
• Nacho cheese: A processed cheese sauce often used on nachos.

Cheez Whiz is a well-known brand of processed cheese spread from America. It was first made in the 1950s by Kraft Foods. It was created to make it easier to prepare the sauce for Welsh rarebit. You can find Cheez Whiz in jars or even spray cans today. It's often used for Philadelphia cheesesteaks.

• Types of Cheese Sauce
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  An open jar of Cheez Whiz

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  Chili con queso with tortilla chips

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  Mornay sauce

How We Use Cheese Sauce

Cheese sauce is often used as a dip for snacks like chips or vegetables. It's also a great ingredient or topping for many different meals. You can find it on sandwiches, roasted potatoes, casseroles, pasta dishes, and even with eggs, fish, or meat. Some soups also use cheese sauce.

Here are some dishes that often feature cheese sauce:

• Almadroc
• Cheese fries: French fries covered in delicious cheese sauce.
• Cheesesteak: A sandwich with sliced meat and cheese sauce.
• Fettuccine Alfredo: A pasta dish with a creamy cheese sauce.
• Fondue: A Swiss dish where you dip bread or other foods into melted cheese sauce. This sauce usually has a mix of cheeses, wine, and seasonings.
• Horseshoe sandwich: An open-faced sandwich with meat, fries, and cheese sauce.
• Lokshen mit kaese
• Macaroni and cheese: A classic dish of pasta mixed with cheese sauce.
• Nachos: Tortilla chips topped with cheese sauce and other ingredients.
• Tetrazzini
• Welsh rarebit: A dish of cheese sauce poured over toast.

Cheese Sauce in Stores and Factories

Cheese sauce is made in large amounts in many countries, like the United States, China, and Switzerland. In the U.S., you can buy it at grocery stores. Restaurants, from family diners to fast-food places, also use it.

When cheese sauce is made in big factories, it's often processed in a special way to keep it fresh. This is called aseptic processing. It means the sauce is heated to kill germs, then put into sterile (super clean) cans, bottles, or special bags. Some kinds even come in aerosol spray cans!

These factory-made cheese sauces can use natural cheese, processed cheese, or both. They might also have special ingredients called food additives. These additives help make sure the sauce always looks, tastes, and feels the same. They also help keep it fresh for a long time. Some common additives are carrageenan, citric acid, and xanthan gum.

Making liquid cheese sauce in a factory usually involves shredding large blocks of cheese. This cheese is then put into big containers with other dry ingredients and special salts that help everything mix smoothly. The mixture is stirred and heated to make it smooth and germ-free. Then, it's poured into clean bottles, jars, or cans. These sauces often don't need to be kept in the fridge until you open them.

Some cheese sauces come in "bag-in-box" containers. These are often used in places like movie theaters or sports stadiums. A bag of cheese sauce is connected to a machine that heats it up and keeps it warm. Then, a pump dispenses the sauce onto things like tortilla chips or pretzel bites.

You can also find cheese sauce as a dry powder mix. You just add water or milk to make the sauce. These dry mixes are often found in packets, or inside boxes of dry macaroni and cheese.

Factories also use frozen cheese sauce as an ingredient in prepared frozen meals and frozen vegetables.

In July 2018, Kraft Heinz, a big food company, asked stores to take back about 100,000 jars of cheese dip. This was a safety measure because there was a chance the ingredients might separate, which could lead to problems. People were told not to eat it, even if it looked fine.

• Commercial cheese sauces
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  A packet of mass-produced Heinz cheese sauce at a McDonald's restaurant in Moscow, Russia

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  Kraft Dinner is packaged with a processed powdered cheese sauce packet (Canada, 2018)

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  A serving of macaroni and cheese included as part of a frozen meal with frozen cheese sauce as an ingredient

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  Pretzel bites with a commercial cheese sauce at a movie theater in the United States

Images for kids

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  Fettuccine Alfredo, prepared with a butter and Parmigiano-Reggiano mixture that forms a cheese sauce as it cooks

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  A horseshoe sandwich