It's a story about marketing, economics, science, and biology.

這是一個關於營銷、經濟、科學和生物學的故事。

And most importantly, it's about why a lot of cheese is orange.

最重要的是，它講述了為什麼很多奶酪都是橙色的。

Cheese making basically starts here.

奶酪製作基本上從這裡開始。

I know, it seems like we're starting a little bit early on in the process, but hang in there with me.

我知道，看起來我們開始得有點早，但請和我一起堅持下去。

Animals like cows, buffalo, goats, sheep, they naturally eat grass, which gives them the nutrients they need to produce milk, and that milk gets turned into cheese.

像奶牛、水牛、山羊、綿羊這樣的動物，它們自然會吃草，草為它們提供了生產牛奶所需的營養，而牛奶則被製成奶酪。

That is one vascular utter, by the way.

順便說一句，這是一個血管吭。

In the 12 and 1300s, sheep were often the main producers of milk, but the catch was that… A sheep can turn their grass intake into either wool or milk, but not the same amount of both simultaneously.

在 12 世紀和 13 世紀，綿羊通常是牛奶的主要生產者，但問題在於......綿羊可以將攝入的草轉化為羊毛或牛奶，但不能同時將兩者轉化為相同數量的羊毛或牛奶。

That's Paul Kinston, former president of the American Dairy Science Association and a multi-published author on the subject of cheese.

他就是保羅-金斯頓（Paul Kinston），美國乳品科學協會前主席，也是一位出版過多部奶酪相關著作的作家。

Cheese, right from undergraduate work, you know, and then through graduate school, became my love, my first love.

奶酪，從大學開始，一直到研究所學生，都是我的摯愛，我的初戀。

And talking about love, just hold on one second.

說到愛，請稍等一下。

And talking about love, if you love Vox content as much as Paul loves cheese and I love french fries, then you should know about our membership program.

說到愛，如果你喜歡 Vox 的內容，就像保羅喜歡奶酪和我喜歡薯條一樣，那麼你就應該瞭解我們的會員計劃。

It's the best way to support our journalism and get some exclusive perks.

這是支持我們的新聞報道並獲得一些獨家優惠的最佳方式。

Please pardon my eating while I explain this, I've been filming all day and haven't had a chance to have a snack.

請原諒我一邊吃一邊解釋，我拍了一整天的戲，還沒來得及吃點東西。

So weeks of work go into the making of every Vox video, and that goes from mother.

製作每部 Vox 視頻都要耗費數週的時間，而這一切都要從母親開始。

Weeks of work go into the making of every Vox video, and that includes things like writing, scripting, animating, editing, filming, talking to experts like Paul, fact-checking everything.

每個 Vox 視頻的製作都需要花費數週的時間，其中包括寫作、編寫腳本、製作動畫、剪輯、拍攝、與保羅這樣的專家交談、對所有內容進行事實核查。

All of that takes a lot of time and effort, and support from our members makes all that time and effort possible.

所有這一切都需要花費大量的時間和精力，而會員們的支持使所有這些時間和精力成為可能。

So if you want to ensure that videos like the ones that we make keep getting made on the internet, the best way that you can do that is by joining our membership program.

是以，如果你想確保我們製作的視頻能在互聯網上繼續播放，最好的辦法就是加入我們的會員計劃。

So if that's something that speaks to you, go to vox.com slash memberships and join today.

是以，如果你有這方面的想法，請訪問 vox.com slash memberships 並立即加入。

Now back to the video.

現在回到視頻。

Switching the milk used for cheese from this to this had a profound effect on people's perception of cheese, all because of something in the grass, beta carotene.

把奶酪用的牛奶從這種換成這種，對人們對奶酪的看法產生了深遠的影響，這一切都是因為草中的一種物質--β 胡蘿蔔素。

Beta carotene is a complex compound that creates color.

胡蘿蔔素是一種複雜的化合物，能產生顏色。

It's what gives carrots and apricots and sweet potatoes their signature orange.

正是它賦予了胡蘿蔔、杏和紅薯標誌性的橙色。

Grass, when it's lush and green and in season, contains beta carotene.

青草在鬱鬱蔥蔥的季節含有胡蘿蔔素。

When sheep process the beta carotene in grass, it doesn't make its way into the milk.

當綿羊處理草中的β-胡蘿蔔素時，它不會進入牛奶中。

Therefore, sheep cheese is pretty much always naturally white.

是以，羊奶酪幾乎總是天然白色的。

In the cow, it's a different metabolic pathway.

在牛體內，這是一種不同的新陳代謝途徑。

Beta carotene goes into the cow, passes into the milk, is part of the fat in milk, and then gets concentrated in the cheese.

β-胡蘿蔔素進入奶牛體內，進入牛奶，成為牛奶中脂肪的一部分，然後濃縮在奶酪中。

And that's what gives cow's milk cheese its yellow color.

這就是牛奶奶酪呈現黃色的原因。

Cheese made in sort of the spring, early summer, always has been recognized as really yellow, which it is, and also higher in quality.

春天和初夏製作的奶酪總是被認為是真正的黃色奶酪，確實如此，品質也更高。

I mean, it was always revered.

我的意思是，它一直受到尊敬。

Because of that, people really wanted yellow cheese.

正因為如此，人們非常想要黃奶酪。

But cheesemakers, they wanted to make money.

但奶酪製造商，他們想賺錢。

And a second change in terms of marketing that happened that became really important, cow's milk forms cream easily.

在市場營銷方面發生的第二個變化變得非常重要，那就是牛奶很容易形成奶油。

So cheesemakers figured out pretty quickly that they could skim off some cream before making cheese to make butter.

是以，奶酪製作者很快就發現，他們可以在製作奶酪前撇去一些奶油來製作黃油。

Butter had a better price in the marketplace.

黃油在市場上的價格更高。

But the problem with the cheese was, with less cream, is less beta carotene carrying over because it's in the butter.

但奶酪的問題是，奶油少了，攜帶的β胡蘿蔔素就少了，因為它在黃油裡。

And so it didn't look as good.

所以看起來就沒那麼好了。

Farmers were ending up with yellow butter and pale cheese.

農民們最終只能得到黃色的黃油和蒼白的奶酪。

But they realized that they could scam the system by dyeing the cheese to look like it was full of that beta carotene-filled fat.

但他們意識到，只要給奶酪染色，讓它看起來充滿了胡蘿蔔素脂肪，就能騙過系統。

So that begins to happen in the 1400s, 1500s.

是以，這種情況在 14 世紀和 15 世紀開始出現。

And they used things like saffron or marigold or, believe it or not, carrot juice.

他們使用藏紅花或萬壽菊，或者，信不信由你，胡蘿蔔汁。

But everything changed once these bad boys hit the market.

但這些壞小子一上市，一切都變了。

The annatto seed.

紅木種子

The seed comes from this shrub that grows in South America.

種子來自這種生長在南美洲的灌木。

The Dutch, who followed in the wake of the Spanish colonizers as traders, learned about annatto, and they saw markets.

繼西班牙殖民者之後，作為商人的荷蘭人瞭解了紅木，並看到了市場。

So in the 1600s, they began to export annatto from South America to Europe.

是以，在 1600 年代，他們開始從南美向歐洲出口紅木。

Because there aren't a lot of really good colorants available.

因為真正好的著色劑並不多。

And Europe is getting very wealthy, and they like colorful things.

歐洲越來越富裕，他們喜歡五顏六色的東西。

And so it didn't take long for cheesemakers to realize they could replace these expensive colorants like saffron or marigold or carrot juice because they're not very intense.

是以沒過多久，奶酪製造商們就意識到，他們可以用藏紅花、金盞花或胡蘿蔔汁等昂貴的色素來代替這些色素，因為它們的濃度並不高。

And annatto was superior and cheap.

而紅木是上等的廉價產品。

And cheeses then began to be either surface applied with annatto like the Dutch did for to make English hard-pressed cheeses like Cheshire and Cheddar look like they were from rich spring milk, you know, full of beta-carotene.

然後，奶酪開始像荷蘭人那樣在表面塗抹胭脂蟲，使柴郡和切達等英國硬壓奶酪看起來像來自富含β-胡蘿蔔素的春季牛奶。

So the coloring was for marketing.

所以上色是為了營銷。

And this then becomes the tradition.

這就成了傳統。

Over centuries, this is the way, you know, real cheese is made.

幾個世紀以來，真正的奶酪就是這樣製作出來的。

And that's why today you still get cheeses that look like this.

這就是為什麼今天你還能吃到這樣的奶酪。

With factory farming, cows aren't as grass-fed as they used to be.

隨著工廠化養殖的發展，奶牛不再像以前那樣用草餵養。

Their diets tend to include a lot more corn and soy.

他們的飲食中往往含有更多的玉米和大豆。

But because we've been used to centuries of saturated colors of cheese, none of that really matters when it comes to marketing.

但是，由於我們已經習慣了幾個世紀以來奶酪的飽和色彩，是以在營銷方面，這些都不重要。

We still expect our cheddar to maintain a golden hue.

我們仍然希望我們的切達乾酪保持金黃色。

And you can still thank annatto for that.

你還可以為此感謝紅木。

Annatto is used all over food too, often making its way into many other cheese adjacent snacks, all of which carry on that long orange legacy.

胭脂樹也被廣泛應用於食品中，經常被用在許多其他奶酪和零食中，所有這些都繼承了橙色的悠久傳統。

But if you go to your local grocery store, you'll see that the cheese is varied.

但如果你去當地的雜貨店，就會發現奶酪的種類多種多樣。

Take this cheddar, for instance.

比如這款切達乾酪。

There's the yellow dyed cheddar that we expect.

還有我們期待的黃色染色切達乾酪。

And then there's the undyed white cheddar.

還有未染色的白切達乾酪。

But if you go to your local cheesemonger, you might be able to find the perfect in-between, grass-fed cheddar cheese that's naturally tinted with beta-carotene.

不過，如果你去當地的奶酪店，也許能找到一種完美的介於兩者之間的草飼切達奶酪，這種奶酪天然帶有β-胡蘿蔔素。

Which one you prefer is up to your own taste and expectations.

至於您更喜歡哪一種，則取決於您自己的品味和期望。

I grew up with white Vermont cheddar as a kid.

我小時候是吃佛蒙特州白切達乾酪長大的。

I prefer raw milk cheddar, by the way.

順便說一句，我更喜歡生乳切達乾酪。

I live right down the road from a wonderful raw milk cheddar cheesemaker.

我就住在一家很棒的生乳切達乾酪生產商的路邊。

My kids grew up on it.

我的孩子們就是在它的陪伴下長大的。

It's pricey, but boy, it's good.

價格不菲，但味道不錯。

And it's not colored.

而且沒有顏色。