Colby is a semi-hard orange cheese made from cow's milk. It is named after the city of Colby, Wisconsin, US, where it was first developed in 1885 and quickly became popular. Colby is manufactured in a similar process as cheddar cheese. Instead of the cheddaring process, however, the whey is partially drained after the curd is cooked, and cold water is added to decrease the temperature of the mixture. Traditionally, Colby has an open texture with irregular holes and is pressed into a cylindrical form called a longhorn. The washed-curd process results in a cheese with a mild flavor that is moister and softer than cheddar. Colby is typically used in snacks, sandwiches, and salads. Derivatives include Colby-Jack, a marble cheese produced by mixing Colby and Monterey Jack curds, and Pinconning cheese, a style of Colby that was developed in Michigan. The city of Colby considers the cheese an important part of its history and organizes an annual festival to promote Colby cheese, and there have been several proposals in the Wisconsin state legislature to designate Colby the official state cheese. History In 1882, Ambrose and Susan Steinwand established a cheese factory near Colby, Wisconsin, on a site they had purchased five years before. The Steinwands' son Joseph developed the cheese at the factory in 1885 when he was handling a batch of cheddar cheese and washed the curd with cold water. There are differing accounts on whether the creation was intentional. According to some sources, Joseph had attended a cheesemaking course and was specifically interested in developing a new type of cheese; according to others, he neglected to drain the excess moisture after adding cold water and accidentally discovered the result. The resulting cheese, which was moister than cheddar, was named after the nearby city and quickly became popular because it did not involve the complicated cheddaring process. By 1896, the family was producing US$3000 () worth of cheese each year. Though Ambrose and Joseph Steinwand have traditionally been credited for its development, the historian Joan M. Jensen notes that cheesemaking at the time typically involved the entire family, including women who were often expert cheesemakers. In 1898, the Colby Phonograph reported that "a merchant in Phillips gives as one of the 13 reasons why people should trade with him, that he sells the genuine Steinwand Colby Cheese." The city of Colby has organized an annual festival in July,