The Likely Reason Cheetos Stain Your Fingers

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Demolishing a bag of Cheetos in one sitting is something all of us have done. Subsequently, we've had to deal with the inevitable aftermath: orange-yellow fingers. Frito-Lay announced the skin staining dust left behind on your fingers is called "Cheetle," which is both a fun marketing tool and at least gives a name to the delicious problem. So what's with Cheetle fingers, why do our fingers change color after eating this crunchy snack? Well, it's probably a mixture of two things: food dye and oil. 

The food dye used to make Cheeto's, Yellow 6, can dye your skin, but it's the interaction of the dye with the oil used to fry Cheetos that can paint your hands orange-yellow. The combination of food dye and oil sticks to your skin's natural oils, which is mostly likely why they stain your hands so intensely. One reddit user hypothesizes Frito-Lay actually adds more Cheetle than is necessary to each bag, increasing the Cheeto's skin staining powers. That seems more hearsay and conjecture than anything verifiable but Frito-Lay hasn't given us much besides the name. 

It's worth noting the company strongly believes its customers love licking their fingers clean, even going so far as to say that Cheetle coated hands are a badge of honor. That seems to be the company admitting that dying our hands is one of its goals across the entire portfolio of Cheetos, including cheddar jalapeño, the best Cheetos flavor.

Do you crave the brightly colored, cheesy crunch of a Cheeto but don't actually want to have your hands covered in Cheetle? In flagrant contradiction to Frito-Lay, plenty of Cheetos lovers don't love being coated in their food. If you're one of those people, we have some great news for you: there are two tried and true methods of having Cheetos while avoiding Cheetle. 

The first approach is something old school: chopsticks. Chopsticks are the perfect tool to having your Cheeto and being Cheetle-free too ... or however the saying goes. By using chopsticks to pick up each Cheeto individually, you can avoid the mess altogether, a trick which beloved actor Oscar Isaac makes use of. You can also try devices readily found on Amazon, like finger guards. Either way, you can crunch away stain and mess free which is perfect for when you're, say, munching on Cheetos while drinking rosé, since they pair so deliciously together. 

The second approach is cooking Cheetos into some of your favorite foods. One of our writers tried very hard to cook with Flamin' Hot Cheetos, to varying degrees of success. However, one recipe straight from Frito-Lay can help you get your Cheeto fix mess-free: Hot Cheeto Meatballs. How does this avoid getting Cheetle all over? The first step is to crush the Cheetos while in the bag. Now that's working smarter, not harder.