Colby is a washed-curd cow's-milk cheese first made in Colby, Wisconsin, in 1885. Joseph F. Steinwand, a local cheesemaker, devised it and named it for the town.
The wash keeps Colby moister and milder than cheddar. It is a table cheese and a melting cheese. It does not age into a grating cheese the way cheddar can.
History
Colby belongs to the cheese boom of late nineteenth-century Wisconsin, when dairy farms needed a cheese that could travel farther than fresh milk. Steinwand's make was a cousin of cheddar with one deliberate change. He wanted the cheese to stay soft and mild, rather than to grow sharp in a cellar.
The town name never became a protected title. Other American dairies could use the word, and they did. Colby remained an American cheese. It did not travel the world as a style in the way cheddar did. In the shop it often sits beside cheddar, and it is often blended with Monterey Jack and sold as Colby Jack.
How it is made
The make starts like a cheddar. Milk is set, the curd is cut, and the curd is stirred and warmed. The paths then split. For Colby, part of the whey is drained and cool water is stirred in. That wash pulls sugar and acid out of the curd. Less sugar is left to sour, so the finished cheese stays mild. The curd is salted and pressed. It is not cheddared in stacked slabs.
Moisture is the point of the wash, and it is also the limit. A long aging does not turn Colby into a deep, savory wheel. The paste dries without gaining the flavor of an old clothbound cheddar. Colby is made to be eaten young. An aged Colby is not a prize. It is a mild cheese that has been kept too long.
Taste
Young Colby tastes of milk, butter, and salt, with a little sweetness and almost no bite. The texture is open and springy, softer than a cheddar of the same age. The paste is often light orange from annatto. The color is not a flavor.
There is little rind on a block, and there is little cellar aroma. The pleasure is the soft chew. A sound Colby smells like clean milk. A sour smell, or a wet and slimy surface, means the piece has sat too long.
In the kitchen
Use Colby when the melt should be gentle. It works in a mild grilled sandwich, a soft cheese sauce, eggs, and a burger for someone who finds cheddar too sharp. It slices cleanly for a lunch plate. It is an easy cheese, and that is its job.
Do not buy it for a grating pile, or for a board meant to show age. A recipe that asks for sharp cheddar will taste flat if Colby replaces all of it. Use Colby for half of the cheese when a milder sauce is the goal. When the goal is the taste of cheddar, use cheddar.
Around the world
Colby is eaten mostly in the United States, with some sale in the rest of North America. Wisconsin remains the place most tied to the name. It is a supermarket and deli cheese, not a cheese of ceremonies or of a protected landscape.
Outside the United States, few recipes call for it. A mild cheddar or a young Gouda does the same everyday job. A label that says Colby Jack means a blend of Colby and Monterey Jack. Expect a mild melt with a slightly different chew, not a separate tradition.