Cheese in China

[Randy W]

Two things that were not available when I first got here in 2009 were sliced bread and pizza. They are now widely available. We still go to Nanning for the best cheese and butter, however. The cheese we buy is from Ecuador or Uruguay, better mozzarella than what I ever bought in the States.

 

When buying pizza, I recommend that you avoid anything glazed (yes, sugar coated), or with corn. They even make durian pizza. The crust is usually questionable, but sometimes good.

 

In the NY Times -

 

In China, Cheese Is Strange, but Pizza Is Hot

China may be the hardest place in the world to sell cheese, but Liu Yang has been trying anyway — and Western fast food may be his salvation.

There has not been dairy in the mainstream Chinese diet for centuries — no butter, no milk, no cheese, nothing.

. . .

That is already happening, albeit through a side door: a growing appetite for American-style fast food. The average Chinese city dweller eats it at least once a week, by one estimate; Pizza Hut is opening stores on the mainland at a rate of about one a day.

Pizza, of course, contains cheese. Theo Spierings, chief executive of Fonterra, a New Zealand dairy producer, said pizza’s popularity was driving up demand for cheese across Asia. Supermarkets in big cities are starting to put blocks of cheese on display.

 

 

[Randy W]

Milk has been widely available all along, but on the shelf, NOT refrigerated. They seem to feed their cows a little too much vanilla and sugar for my tastes, so I recommend that you buy imported milk from New Zealand, Australia, or Europe, which is sold in some stores.

[Greg.D.]

Whe you ultra-pasteurize milk (which, after aseptic packaging allows it to be stored at RT), it gets a sweet taste, which I kind of like. Don't know if you were joking about "feeding" sugar and vanilla.

 

I saw that article and I also questioned its claim that milk was unknown in the Chinese diet. In Inner Mongolia, milk and milk products are deeply embedded in the culture. My wife grew up drinking milk, too.

[Randy W]

When you ultra-pasteurize milk (which, after aseptic packaging allows it to be stored at RT), it gets a sweet taste, which I kind of like. Don't know if you were joking about "feeding" sugar and vanilla.

 

I saw that article and I also questioned its claim that milk was unknown in the Chinese diet. In Inner Mongolia, milk and milk products are deeply embedded in the culture. My wife grew up drinking milk, too.

 

 

The Chinese milk has that flavor - the foreign milk does not, even ultra-pasturized., that's why the joke about feed additives.

 

I usually buy Zhuangniu Buffalo milk from a local store at 9½% near half-and-half strength for my coffee. They have little stands near just about every school here - even the regular (fresh) milk seems to have that flavoring. My 9½% tastes like regular milk.

 

The fresh milk lasts only about 3 or 4 days in the refrigerator, or maybe overnight once opened, while the packaged ultra-pasturized milk lasts for 6 to 9 months on the shelf, or a few days once opened.

 

I keep some of each - two days of fresh, a pack of 12 cardboard containers of ultra-pasturized from a FOREIGN producer.

Edited July 1, 2016 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Catherineli]

I'm pretty sure that Chinese milk is added with something additional to please millions of stomachs. It's too bad and the milk has had some bad reputation for quite a few years. Randy is being sarcastic about "sugar or vanilla". I doubt those that are tagged "foreign milk" are really foreign? Aren't they becoming bad during the importing process?

 

In the beginning of 2015 before I came to USA, I went to a local, grocery store to buy cheese. After I failed to see any in the counters, I asked a shop girl if they had cheese, which is, in Chinese, Nai Lao. The shop girl simply told me she didn't know what is Nai Lao. Then she asked another girl clerk what Nai Lao meant. The other shop girl gave me a same negative answer. To my surprise, none of them knew what Nai Lao was. I'm sure if it is in a big, super market like Walmart, Nai Lao is not a novelty. But this is China, the norther, present China.

have a good weekend! everyone!

Edited July 2, 2016 by Catherineli (see edit history)

[Randy W]

I'm pretty sure that Chinese milk is added with something additional to please millions of stomachs. It's too bad and the milk has had some bad reputation for quite a few years. Randy is being sarcastic about "sugar or vanilla". I doubt those that are tagged "foreign milk" are really foreign? Aren't they becoming bad during the importing process?

 

In the beginning of 2015 before I came to USA, I went to a local, grocery store to buy cheese. After I failed to see any in the counters, I asked a shop girl if they had cheese, which is, in Chinese, Nai Lao. The shop girl simply told me she didn't know what is Nai Lao. Then she asked another girl clerk what Nai Lao meant. The other shop girl gave me a same negative answer. To my surprise, none of them knew what Nai Lao was. I'm sure if it is in a big, super market like Walmart, Nai Lao is not a novelty. But this is China, the norther, present China.

have a good weekend! everyone!

 

 

They are packaged by New Zealand companies such as Anchor (some other brands are Australian or European). Stores such as RT Mart have a selection of imported goods, including dairy products. The foreign milk definitely tastes different, and seems to have no added flavor. The expiration date is usually 9 to 12 months.

 

The cheese we buy comes from that little shop in Nanning, which sells EXCELLENT mozzarella cheese imported from Ecuador and Uruguay. The cheese at the local supermarkets is usually processed and packaged by the slice - not as good - but is available at many larger supermarkets, including RT Mart.

Edited July 2, 2016 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

This is the New Zealand milk we have for now - the expiration date is in January. We bought two boxes - 24 cartons - for ¥88.

 

 

Almost all cheese sold locally, including the imported cheese, is PROCESSED CHEESE - from Wikipedia,

 

Processed cheese (also known as prepared cheese, cheese product, plastic cheese, or cheese singles) is a food product made from cheese (and sometimes other, unfermented, dairy by-product ingredients); plus emulsifiers, saturated vegetable oils, extra salt, food colorings, whey or sugar.

 

 

 

This is the cheese we buy in Nanning

 

[Greg.D.]

Whitewave foods, a local company that makes SILK and Horizons organic milk in the US, launched a partnership with the same company that the NZ brand is partnered with a few years ago. They had announced joint ownership and operation of a plant in Inner Mongolia, I think.

 

I don't know what happened, but there has been no news since then about progress or plans. Maybe that's what happens when you "buy" a Chinese company and only own 49% of it, I guess.

 

http://www.foodbusinessnews.net/articles/news_home/International/2014/01/WhiteWave_Foods_entering_China.aspx?ID=%7B2274CC2A-4B08-4D14-AA9E-B18515A68889%7D&cck=1

[Mick]

When I first arrived in China (1997), cheese was impossible to find. When I left in 2003, it was still scarce but some could be found with diligent searching. We lived about three to four hours up the coast from Hong Kong and any time one of us ex pats was making a trip down to HK, everyone put in their order for cheese. Coffee was also hard to locate in my early years, but became more common by the time we departed.

[Thomas Promise]

We had to buy some cream cheese so we could make an Pumpkin cheese cake. I paid almost 8 times as much for it in Nanning compared to the US. Check the expiration dates on your perishables. They don't.

[Catherineli]

Cheese in big grocery stores is not uncommon anymore in China. At small stores cheese is belonging to western food. I still have no idea about cheese. In US I can't tell the difference between the white cheese and yellow cheese. I know nothing of the different brands.

I'm glad there're pure milk now in China! They must be more expensive than the domestic, "vanilla" milk lol

[Randy W]

Cheese in big grocery stores is not uncommon anymore in China. At small stores cheese is belonging to western food. I still have no idea about cheese. In US I can't tell the difference between the white cheese and yellow cheese. I know nothing of the different brands.

I'm glad there're pure milk now in China! They must be more expensive than the domestic, "vanilla" milk lol

 

"Yellow" in cheese is simply a food coloring - it is almost always white as made.

 

Chinese milk is called "pure milk" also, which is why I "joke" that the flavoring must have been added to the cattle's feed, so it wouldn't be called an additive.

 

This is our fresh buffalo milk, which I buy at a nearby store. The store is supplied every day with fresh milk (already bottled) which is supposed to be used within 3 days. It has a 24 hour lifetime once opened.

 

This milk is NOT available, except at these specialty stores, since the rapid expiration would require a LOT of it to be thrown away at a regular store.

 

[Randy W]

This is the import dairy shelf in the RT Mart here in Yulin. The shelf is unrefrigerated (at room temperature), and may be stored that way until the expiration date. The milk is all from countries such as New Zealand, Switzerland, Australia, etc. The boxed milk sold like this in China and elsewhere is ultra-pasteurized for a shelf-life of as long as 8 to 12 months. Once opened, it is recommended to be used within a few days.

 

 

and this is the refrigerated import dairy goods shelf. Yes, the milk is the same as what is also sold unrefrigerated. You will see the milk, butter, margarine, several varieties of processed cheese (I do NOT like this cheese - every one I've tried has an overly artificial taste to it), cream cheese, whipping cream, whipped cream, but no sour cream, unfortunately.

 

[amberjack1234]

Randy, I am sitting here eating a piece of cheese right now as I read this post. I have a small piece every morning with coffee. I think about you at that time every morning.

[Randy W]

Randy, I am sitting here eating a piece of cheese right now as I read this post. I have a small piece every morning with coffee. I think about you at that time every morning.

 

 

What a GREAT laugh as I get ready for my last day of IV's - we have a 10AM appt with the doctor!! Thanks, Larry!