Dante

I was having this discussion last night, but with regards to Red Velvet Cake. How is "red" a flavor? Could I make Green Velvet Cake and have the same cake? I t-h-i-n-k the red just comes from colouring, but I'll gladly accept any info to the contrary anyone out there may have. My only direct experience with Red Velvet Cake comes from Red Velvet Cake Ice Cream. Never had it in its pure form. But it may surprise you how much effect colour can have on perceived flavour- just the implications that the brain picks up and transmits to the taste buds. I've got this thing where I sort of "taste" colours- I sometimes describe things as tasting "red", "green", etc.- could be some weird anomaly of my brain or possibly early imprinting- associating tastes with the colouring of certain foods I enjoyed early in my life before that differentiation- thing kicked in in my cognitive development. Dante

Let me be the first to say "Welcome! Dante". Why, thank you. nice to be here. I've thought for a while that i'd like to find a good foodie site- forums, resources, etc. , something that covered the widest range possible, and stumbled across eGullet during a Google -search for...something else, can't recall now. I believe that "white" cheddar on packaging tends to be a marketing tool only. <snip> That's pretty much what I'd surmised as well. I've studied a bit about marketing, plus I got a crash-course of sorts in food labeling a few months ago while doing pre-publication reviewing of a book by the dietitian who works for the local food co-op, so these things kind of hit me automatically now. Dante

So why is "white cheddar" so often offered as a flavor claim on packaging? What does it all mean? The easy answer would be for the purposes of marketing to people who don't know any better... (for one thing, added adjectives draw the eye more) A more kind answer would be to point out that said chedder lacks colouring additives. Dante (eGullet newbie)