Colby-Jack, or Co-jack/Cojack, is an American marble cheese made from Colby and

Monterey Jack Monterey Jack, sometimes shortened to Jack, is a Californian white, semi-hard cheese made using cow's milk, with a mild flavor and slight sweetness. Originating in Monterey, on the Central Coast of California, the cheese has been called "a vest ...

. It is classified as semi-hard in texture and is mild due to its two-week aging process. It is generally sold in a full-moon or a half-moon shape when it is young. The flavor of Colby-Jack is mild to mellow. Colby-Jack cheese is mainly produced in the states of Wisconsin and California. It is used in various dishes or as a topping to be melted. These dishes include burgers, pasta bakes,

macaroni and cheese Macaroni and cheese (colloquially known as mac and cheese and known as macaroni cheese in the United Kingdom) is a pasta dish of macaroni covered in cheese sauce, most commonly cheddar sauce. Its origins trace back to cheese and pasta casserol ...

casserole A casserole (French language, French: diminutive of , from Provençal dialect, Provençal , meaning 'saucepan') is a kind of large, deep cookware and bakeware, pan or bowl used for cooking a variety of dishes in the oven; it is also a categor ...

s and so on.

Origin

The name Colby-Jack comes from the combination of the names of the two kinds of cheese it is made from, Colby and Monterey Jack cheese. Colby cheese originates in

Colby, Wisconsin Colby is a city in Clark and Marathon counties in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It is part of the Wausau, Wisconsin Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,952 at the 2020 census. Of this, 1,275 were in Clark County, and 677 were in M ...

, and was created by Joseph F. Steinwand in 1885. Monterey Jack cheese originates from

Monterey, California Monterey ( ; ) is a city situated on the southern edge of Monterey Bay, on the Central Coast (California), Central Coast of California. Located in Monterey County, California, Monterey County, the city occupies a land area of and recorded a popu ...

, and was made by Mexican Franciscan Friars during the 1700s. Colby-Jack cheese was then processed by marbling the two kinds of cheese together. It was not made at a large scale until the 20th century when the cheese became more popular and moved out of Wisconsin to larger areas of the United States (See Factory manufacturing). Before it was made on a large scale, the small, wooden building in Wisconsin only made of cheese each day. At this time, Colby-Jack was pressed into a long-horn shape and dipped in wax.

Ingredients and preparation

Ingredients

Colby-Jack is a marble cheese that is a mixture of Colby and Monterey Jack cheeses. Colby-Jack is a semi-soft American cheese that is made from pasteurised milk.

Annatto Annatto ( or ) is an orange-red condiment and food coloring derived from the seeds of the achiote tree (''Bixa orellana''), native to tropics, tropical parts of the Americas. It is often used to impart a yellow to red-orange color to foods, but ...

is the source of the orange color in the Colby component of Colby-Jack. The flavor of Colby-Jack is determined by the individual cheeses that are used to make it.

Sodium content

The baseline amount of sodium in 2009 of Colby-Jack was 668 mg of sodium to 100 g of cheese. By 2014 Colby-Jack was down to 600 mg to 100 g of cheese.

Preparation

Colby and Monterrey Jack cheeses are individually prepared by mixing

pasteurized In food processing, pasteurization ( also pasteurisation) is a process of food preservation in which packaged foods (e.g., milk and fruit juices) are treated with mild heat, usually to less than , to eliminate pathogens and extend shelf life ...

milk and bacterial cultures. Once fully mixed, a coagulant is added, which makes the cheese mixture thicken and take on a gel-like consistency; the addition of coagulant also serves to separate the

cheese curds Cheese curds are moist pieces of curdled milk, eaten either alone as a snack, or used in prepared dishes. They are most often consumed throughout the northern United States and Canada. Notably, cheese curds are popular in Quebec, as part of th ...

and

whey Whey is the liquid remaining after milk has been curdled and strained. It is a byproduct of the manufacturing of cheese or casein and has several commercial uses. Sweet whey is a byproduct resulting from the manufacture of rennet types of hard c ...

is added during the preparation of Colby to give it its trademark orange color. Once ingredients have been mixed, the mixtures are drained of their whey, and high-quality curds of each cheese are selected from the remaining solid product. Chosen curds of both cheeses are then blended together, yielding a marbling of orange and white. The blended cheese is then shaped (frequently into a semicircular or rectangular block) or shredded. In some instances, the cheese may be dipped in wax for further preservation; this is subject to manufacturer preference.

Aging process

Most semi-soft cheese such as Colby-Jack whilst aging should be stored at 40°F to 45°F (4-7°C), wrapped in parchment or wax paper then again in plastic wrap. The aging process may last up to 14 days kept in a monitored environment to age. The aging process allows the cheese to fully set as well as completely combine in components and flavor.

Factory manufacturing

Manufacturing

The manufacturing of Colby-Jack can be split into two types of manufacturing, wholesale and industrial purposes. The preparation for Colby-Jack remains the same but is made at a larger scale. Due to the large volumes of cheese that is made in the factories, robots are used to make the process easier for large quantities. In particular, large cheese manufacturer Wirtz states, "To support this market need for customised product, we have to push our automation as far as we can, and make it do things that it was not designed to do". This automation is important as it makes the process easier with the many variations of Colby-Jack that companies need to produce. Once this process is completed, robots are again used to package the cheese and prepare it for packing and distribution.

Packing and distribution

The Colby-Jack is packaged and distributed through the utilisation of robotics. These robots pick the cheese from a conveyor belt and pack them into cases ready to be distributed. These robots are flexible and are able to carry 0.03125 to 20 pounds of packaged cheese. This enables the production sequence to be more efficient and pack more into the packages ready for distribution. Before being distributed a randomly selected pack of Colby-Jack is chosen for quality control. Once this has been done the cheese is ready to be shipped across the US and overseas depending on the manufacturer.

Packaging

As Colby-Jack is made in different forms, packaging varies for each form of the cheese. The types of packaging that Colby-Jack might be packaged in include: *

Vacuum packing Vacuum packing is a method of packaging that removes air from the package prior to sealing. This method involves placing items in a plastic film package, removing air from inside and sealing the package. Shrink film is sometimes used to have a ti ...

Paraffin wax Paraffin wax (or petroleum wax) is a soft colorless solid derived from petroleum, coal, or oil shale that consists of a mixture of hydrocarbon molecules containing between 20 and 40 carbon atoms. It is solid at room temperature and melting poi ...

Latex Latex is an emulsion (stable dispersion) of polymer microparticles in water. Latices are found in nature, but synthetic latices are common as well. In nature, latex is found as a wikt:milky, milky fluid, which is present in 10% of all floweri ...

emulsion (plastic coating) There are many factors that should be considered when selecting the type of packaging. According to the journal ''Cheese Problems Solved'', these factors include "permeability to water vapor,

oxygen Oxygen is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group (periodic table), group in the periodic table, a highly reactivity (chemistry), reactive nonmetal (chemistry), non ...

, NH₃, CO₂, and light, potential for migration of compounds from food to packaging or vice versa, and practical considerations, including suitability for labelling and compatibility with conditions during distribution and sale". This packaging will also depend on the manufacturer and is up to their discretion to decide what is best for their product.

Popularity

Colby-Jack is both used in cooking and eaten by itself. Many dishes that commonly use Colby-Jack are American or Mexican in origin. Colby-Jack's mild flavor can make it easy to incorporate into a recipe. Traditionally popular American cheeses, such as Colby-Jack, cheddar, Monterrey Jack, and Colby, have seen a recent decline in popularity in the United States due to rising popularity of Italian-style cheeses, such as

mozzarella Mozzarella is a Types of cheese#Semi-soft cheese, semi-soft non-aged cheese prepared using the ('stretched-curd') method with origins from southern Italy. It is prepared with cow's milk or buffalo milk, taking the following names: * or mozz ...

. In terms of sales, Colby-Jack is highly consumed in the United States. According to the USDA Data, "Per capita consumption of American-style natural cheeses such as cheddar, Colby and Jack cheeses rose from 11.7 pounds in 1995 to more than 15 pounds in 2017", indicating popularity in cheeses such as Colby-Jack.

References

{{Portal, Food American cheeses Cow's-milk cheeses Cuisine of Wisconsin