Cheese is the staple of many healthy diets. It's a good source of protein and calcium. What do you do if you're lactose intolerant?

Cabot, a cheesemaker whose products are found in many stores, has a lactose free version of their cheddar cheese now offered alongside their other cheese.

Lactose is a normal item found in milk. It is simply the natural milk sugars - the reason milk has a sort of sweet flavor to it. So in order to make a lactose free milk, the cheesemakers have to separate out that normal milk sugar.

Cheese normally has fairly low levels of lactose compared with the milk that created it. The aging and other normal cheese-making process leaves the lactose behind. Still, Cabot's lactose free cheese undergoes an extra step to make sure any remaining lactose is removed.

It still looks and acts like cheese. Again this is fairly minimal processing they are doing.

The result is fairly similar to other cheddar cheeses. It does taste a little bit different. Not bad, and not good, just different. If you already eat a variety of cheese brands then you might not even notice. The variation here might be less than the normal variation you get going from brand to brand.

If you're obsessed with Cabot cheddar cheese, and want that exact flavor, then you might notice the difference and be bothered by it. And if you're lactose intolerant, you might just put up with the various issues of stomach cramps or indigestion that you're having. Or use a lactose-helping pill before you eat the cheese.

I think for most people, though, that this will be a good addition to their diet, if they have any issues at all with lactose.

While most babies can tolerate milk and lactose (for fairly obvious reasons), many adults lose the ability to smoothly process lactose as they age. Nature no longer expects those adults to need to survive on breast milk. If you're an adult and haven't tried going lactose-free for two weeks, I highly recommend giving it a try. You might have developed an intolerance over the years, and never realized it. It's always good to test yourself for these types of issues occasionally, to see what your body is doing!


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