OK. So what makes it turn orange?
Probably some chemical reaction in the cheese itself. Blue Cheese is actually a fungus growing in the cheese.............
From WIKI:
Like many cheeses, the colour of Cheddar cheese is sometimes modified by the use of food colourings. In parts of the United States and Canada, Annatto, extracted from the tropical achiote tree, is used to give Cheddar cheese a deep orange colour. The origins of this practice have been long since forgotten, but the three leading theories appear to be:
* to allow the cheese to have a consistent colour from batch to batch
* to assist the purchaser in identifying the type of cheese when it is unlabelled
* to identify the cheese’s region of origin.
Cheddar cheese was traditionally packaged sometimes in black wax, but commonly in larded cloth, impermeable to contaminants but still allowing the cheese to breathe, though this practice is now limited to Europe and to artisan cheese makers. In the United States, Cheddar cheese comes in several varieties, including mild, medium, sharp, New York Style, Colby/Longhorn, white, and Vermont. New York style Cheddar cheese is a particularly sharp Cheddar cheese, sometimes with a hint of smoke. It is usually slightly softer than milder Cheddar cheese. Colby/Longhorn Cheddar cheese has a mild to medium flavour. The curds are still distinct, often marbled in colour, varying from cream to yellow. Cheddar that has not been coloured is frequently labelled as “white Cheddar” or “Vermont Cheddar”, regardless of whether it was produced in the state of Vermont.
A bowl of cheese curds
A bowl of cheese curds
Cheddar cheese is one of several products used by the United States Department of Agriculture to track the dairy industry; reports are issued weekly detailing prices and production quantities. The state of Wisconsin produces the most Cheddar cheese in the United States; other centres of production include upstate New York, Vermont, and Tillamook, Oregon.
Cheddar cheese is a good source of vitamin B12. A slice of vegetarian Cheddar cheese (40 g) contains about 0.5 µg of vitamin B12 (required daily intake for an adult is 2.4 µg).
Famous Cheddar cheeses from Somerset include Keen’s, with a strong tang, and Montgomery’s, with an apple after taste and the unpasteurised Cheddar made by the Gorge Cheese Company in Cheddar itself.
It doesn't. Cheddar is naturally white. Orange cheddar comes from adding annatto food coloring to the mixture before it hardens curing fermentation.