I started thinking about Doritos dust, and whether one could create it at home.  After a quick search, I found this recipe.  My first reaction was “duh, this is also known as seasoning, not flavor powder” (See prior post).  My second reaction was unbridled excitement.  My third reaction was “uuuggghhh, nutritional yeast.”  This recipe uses nutritional yeast instead of cheese.  Obviously, it’s a vegan site, so they’re not using dairy.  I like experimenting with non-dairy comfort food recipes, like mac and cheese with rice or almond milk.  I’m not knocking non-dairy alternatives generally.  However, I am knocking nutritional yeast as a replacement for cheese.  It just doesn’t do it for me.  I can definitely understand using it for this recipe, because it’s probably easier to get the Doritos dust consistency right with nutritional yeast, because it’s flaky.

I did some more research, looking for alternatives, and most of the recipes for Doritos dust on the web included nutritional yeast.  I realized that it was time for me to figure out how to make real “flavor powder,” because I was all “f’ing dessicated cheese, how does that work?” (See Miracles at 1:53).

Apparently the best way to turn cheese into delicious cheesy powder is to use a dehydrator.  Do people have dehydrators handy?  I certainly do not.  Enter Amazon.

There are a bunch of cheese powders available on Amazon.  They range from “all natural” to “cheese flavor.”  I looked beyond Amazon, and I found this from The Spice House.  It’s all natural, but it ain’t cheap.  This would be good if you want your junk food real classy-like.  There’s also this white cheddar variety from King Arthur Flour.  It’s also pretty classy.

During my research, I also found this very interesting New Yorker article about the history of cheese powder, it’s “opioid-like effects,” and its use by the U.S. military.  It’s a good, albeit slightly depressing, read.