Smoked cheese
Smoked cheese is any cheese that has been specially treated by smoke-curing. It typically has a yellowish-brown outer pellicle which is a result of this curing process.
Process
Smoke-curing is typically done in one of two ways: cold-smoking and hot-smoking. The cold-smoking method smokes the food at between 20° and 30° C. Hot-smoking partially or completely cooks the food by treating it at temperatures ranging from 40° to 90 °C.Another method, typically used in less expensive cheeses, is to use artificial smoke flavoring to give the cheese a smoky flavoring and food coloring to give the outside the appearance of having been smoked in the more traditional manner.