Cheese Database

Colby vs Government cheese

Colby, field guide plate
Colby, photographed

Colby

Facts

Milk
Cow
Texture
Semi-hard
Type
Pressed
Rind
No rind
Country
United States
Place
Wisconsin

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.

Government cheese, field guide plate
Government cheese, photographed

Government cheese

Facts

Texture
Semi-hard
Type
Processed
Rind
No rind
Country
United States

Government cheese is a commodity cheese from the United States, made and held under federal dairy programs rather than sold as a farmhouse wheel. It is a pasteurized process cheese in the American style, formed into large unsliced blocks with plain labels. The point was to turn surplus milk into a food that could be stored and then given out. It slices and melts, which is what those programs needed. It is not a named regional cheese, and it has no rind.