🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Americans

Americans are the people of the United States, a North American country shaped by settlers and Indigenous peoples. Americans are the people of the United States, a North American country shaped by the descendants of settlers and Indigenous peoples. On this site their traditions are Monterey Jack and cream cheese, the Concord grape and Californian olives, bourbon and classic cocktails, and among cured meats jerky and canned luncheon meat.

Dairy farming in the USA took shape with the arrival of European settlers, who brought cows and their own ways of making butter and cheese. Today milk, cheese and ice cream are everyday foods, and cheesemaking is well developed in many states, especially Wisconsin and California. Cream cheese has been made industrially in New York State since 1872–1873; American brands on the site include Philadelphia and Kraft.

One of the cheeses born in America itself is Monterey Jack. According to a widespread version, its ancestor is a simple white cheese, queso del país, made at the Spanish missions of California in the 18th century. In the second half of the 19th century the landowner David Jacks began selling such cheese under his own name, and the name "Jack" stuck. The origin of the name and the recipe is still disputed: there are versions involving a "jack" press and other local cheesemakers. Monterey Jack is a mild semi-hard cow's milk cheese that melts well.

California also gave the country an olive tradition: since 1910 canned black olives of the Mission variety have been the state's main olive product. The Concord grape was bred by Ephraim Bull in Concord around 1849.

On 4 May 1964 the US Congress declared bourbon a distinctive product of the United States. US rules (27 CFR § 5.143) name a whisky type after the grain that makes up at least 51% of the mash: hence straight rye, corn whisky and wheat whiskey, and on 18 December 2024 American single malt whisky was added to the standards. Tennessee whiskey is defined by a 2013 state law, the Bottled in Bond Act dates from 1897, and according to Laird & Company, its applejack has been distilled in New Jersey since 1698. The US is also the home of many cocktails: a printed Whiskey Sour recipe appeared in 1862, the Manhattan was born in late 19th-century New York, and since 2008 the Sazerac has been the official cocktail of New Orleans.

Jerky is meat made lightweight by drying. According to the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), a pound of meat or poultry weighs about four ounces after being made into jerky; because most of the moisture is removed, it is shelf stable. Such meat was known as early as ancient Egypt, and the word "jerky" comes from the Spanish charque. To be labelled jerky, a product must be shelf stable. Commercially packaged jerky keeps for 12 months, home-dried jerky for 1–2 months.

Under the Codex standard CXS 89-1981, luncheon meat is comminuted, cured meat or poultry meat, which may also be smoked. The best known is Spam: Hormel introduced it on 5 July 1937 in Austin, Minnesota, toward the end of the Great Depression, as an affordable meat with a long shelf life. The company lists six ingredients — pork with ham, salt, water, potato starch, sugar and sodium nitrite — and during the Second World War more than 100 million pounds of Spam were shipped abroad to feed Allied troops. US bacon has its own rule too: cured bellies labelled "Bacon" may not weigh more than the fresh bellies (9 CFR 319.107).

Why it matters to you: according to FSIS, canned meat keeps for 2–5 years, and once opened it should go in the fridge for 3–4 days. When making jerky at home, do not rely on the dehydrator alone: bacteria can survive 130–140 °F (54–60 °C), so FSIS advises heating meat to 160 °F (71 °C) and poultry to 165 °F (74 °C) first. And thanks to how well it melts, Monterey Jack is widely used in Mexican-American cooking.