My favorite ff cheese is the Swiss sold at Trader Joe's for $2.99/lb. It's
the same as the Lifetime brand, made here in CA. The ingredients are skim
milk, water, whey, sodium phosphate, xanthum gum, locust bean gum, guar gum,
microbial rennet. (It seems sorta gummy when melted; I wonder why.) I take
this along on trips, and it keeps well. At Mrs. Gooch's HFS I used to get
Lifetime Swiss without sodium phosphate in it; I don't know if that is still
available somewhere. Now that Whole Foods has bought Mrs. G's, the Lifetime
cheeses there contain sodium phosphate. I consider this a healthful cheese
but would just prefer less sodium in all foods.
For ff mozzarella and cheddar, Healthy Choice and Kraft have more taste
appeal than Lifetime, and they come already shredded, but they have some
strange ingredients. Some people are allergic to yellow no. 5, tartrazine
(they are usually also allergic to aspirin). I don't know about yellow no. 6.
To my knowledge, sorbic acid preservative is not controversial and
microcrystalline cellulose is just fiber. I wonder whether hydrolyzed oat and
corn flour affect those who are allergic to glutamic acid/glutamates/MSG, as
hydrolyzed soy protein does. Does anyone know? (If people outside the US read
this, they won't think they are missing out on anything!) ;-) I admit to
buying the stuff, myself.
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