Velveeta, How to Use.

The processed cheese substance which became known as Velveeta was developed in 1908 in the state of New York. The product was sold to Kraft Foods in 1927, and under its new identity it rapidly became an iconic American food.

Advertisements for Velveeta – a “cheese food” not an actual cheese - over the next three decades highlighted its differences (advantages, apparently) over the real thing:

It is not an ordinary cheese – Velveeta is a cheese food rich in protein

Pasteurised, foil-wrapped and packaged … It stays FRESH.

S-P-R-E-A-D-S LIKE BUTTER (so you don’t need butter), yet slices firmly.

Exciting NEW cheese food!

MEN ARE SAYING: “At last! We’ve been waiting for this flavour.”

My brief attempt to clarify the history of Velveeta in Australia were somewhat confused by the existence of a “Velveeta Talcum Powder” (sixpence a tin) in the second decade of the twentieth century. The cheese version did not become an “overnight success” in Australia until the early 1950’s.

In Britain, the first mention of Velveeta that I have been able to find in newspaper cooking columns was in The Times of April 3, 1939. Interestingly, it was in an article entitled “In an American Kitchen” which began:

Vegetables as Entrees.

Why should vegetables be so often only a prop to the meat? They deserve better treatment. Why not give them a solo part? Dress them with sophistication and they graduate from an accessory dish to a vegetable course.

One of the recipes included in the article was:

Velveeta Spaghetti.

How often one needs a first course for luncheon or Sunday supper that can be snatched from the pantry shelf. Here is a quick one. It calls for a package of Velveeta cheese (80z.) and two jars of spaghetti in tomato sauce (17 oz. jars).

Cut the cheese crosswise in one-quarter-inch slices and then slice each into thirds. Add a scant teaspoonful of salt to the spaghetti. Arrange the spaghetti and cheese in alternate layers in a casserole, beginning with the spaghetti and ending with the cheese. Place in a hot oven (400 deg. F) for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and the mixture thoroughly heated through, Broiled sausages, cut up and sprinkled over the top after baking, will make more of a dish of it. Four to five portions.

I wonder – where are the vegetables in this dish?  The tomato sauce must count as a vegetable?

And, I have to ask in view of the introductory paragraph, - where is the sophistication in this recipe?

Velveeta cheese had its few moments of glory a few years later during World War II. The “Kraft Kitchen” advised the British housewife, beleaguered by rationing, to have “A Main Dish of Cheese Once a Week.”

This week’s recipe from the Kraft Kitchen.

Cheese Dumplings.

Ingredients.

¼ lb. Kraft Cheddar or Kraft Velveeta shredded.

2 lb potatoes

2 teaspoons margarine melted

Pepper, salt, nutmeg

8 cloves

Method. Bake or boil potatoes in their skins, peel, mash with margarine melted, add most of the cheese, seasoning to taste. Form into dumpling shapes, roll in remaining cheese, place under a grill or in hot oven for 10 minutes. Before serving, stick a clove in the centre of each. Serve with spinach and chutney or relish. (Makes 8 dumplings.)

The Times, December 18, 1941

And finally, I want to share with you one of the most famous dishes using Velveeta. This recipe appeared on packets of the cheese product from the 1920’s

Velveeta Rolls

Cut thin slices of fresh white bread lengthwise from the bottom of the loaf. Spread generously with Kraft Velveeta. Roll up like a jelly roll, fasten with toothpicks and toast on all sides under the broiler flame. Velveeta Rolls are delicious with salads or tea.

Do you have a Velveeta memory? Please share with us if you do, via the comments.