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It’s not mold, it’s calcium lactate (2018)

thephcheese.com

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Re: It’s not mold, it’s calcium lactate (2018)

#41

Post by silisili »

kadoban wrote: post #31
0_____0 wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tangent on tangent - in addition to the antifungal there is also anticaking agent (nothing crazy, often some type of flour) that noticeably changes the mouthfeel of cheeses that come pre-shredded. If you notice a grainy texture in your food, try grating it off a brick instead!

Yeah, especially for things like cheese sauces I find that it's better to just grate it yourself. It will _not_ melt correctly otherwise, and the additives mess with sauces more than you'd think.

Agreed. I went down this rabbit hole last year, going as far as even buying sodium citrate that's supposed to help it melt together, with mixed results and awful taste.

Never came close to anything resembling a well melted, good tasting sauce.

Re: It’s not mold, it’s calcium lactate (2018)

#42

Post by parliament32 »

astura wrote: post #32
0_____0 wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tangent on tangent - in addition to the antifungal there is also anticaking agent (nothing crazy, often some type of flour) that noticeably changes the mouthfeel of cheeses that come pre-shredded. If you notice a grainy texture in your food, try grating it off a brick instead!

People are super religious about this but I've never been able to tell pre-shredded cheese from cheese I've shredded myself and I don't think anyone else can tell the difference in a blind taste test.

Perhaps the best example is parmesan. You should buy a small brick and shred it, then compare to the Kraft tube we all know -- the difference is massive.

Re: It’s not mold, it’s calcium lactate (2018)

#43

Post by wahnfrieden »

happyopossum wrote: post #39
wahnfrieden wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

it's wood pulp. sawdust derivative. aka cellulose. don't buy pre-shredded cheese unless you like replacing up to 10% of your cheese with essentially sawdust at a premium. https://www.eater.com/2016/3/3/11153876/cheese-wood-pulp-cel...

A) Sometimes it's cellulose - corn starch and other anti-caking agents are also used B) it's legally limited to 4%, not 10%

That's fine to say it is so on paper however the legal limit is not respected with several common household brands testing at 8-9% in last results I can find. They're incentivized to pad the product with anti caking agents to reduce cost, and it is essentially unenforced. Expect this to worsen as FDA is undergoing planned dismantlement.

Re: It’s not mold, it’s calcium lactate (2018)

#44

Post by lupusreal »

wahnfrieden wrote: post #33
0_____0 wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tangent on tangent - in addition to the antifungal there is also anticaking agent (nothing crazy, often some type of flour) that noticeably changes the mouthfeel of cheeses that come pre-shredded. If you notice a grainy texture in your food, try grating it off a brick instead!

it's wood pulp. sawdust derivative. aka cellulose. don't buy pre-shredded cheese unless you like replacing up to 10% of your cheese with essentially sawdust at a premium. https://www.eater.com/2016/3/3/11153876/cheese-wood-pulp-cel...

Cellulose is literally not sawdust. It could be made from sawdust, but would be heavily processed and refined, removing lignin/etc.

Re: It’s not mold, it’s calcium lactate (2018)

#45

Post by kadoban »

parliament32 wrote: post #42
astura wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People are super religious about this but I've never been able to tell pre-shredded cheese from cheese I've shredded myself and I don't think anyone else can tell the difference in a blind taste test.

Perhaps the best example is parmesan. You should buy a small brick and shred it, then compare to the Kraft tube we all know -- the difference is massive.

Is that Kraft parmesan even cheese? It seems like mostly filler, it barely tastes like anything.

Not sure that's necessarily a fair test if people are otherwise talking about shredded cheese that at least you can see what the bulk material is and that it vaguely resembles cheese.

Re: It’s not mold, it’s calcium lactate (2018)

#46

Post by voidmain0001 »

parliament32 wrote: post #42
astura wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People are super religious about this but I've never been able to tell pre-shredded cheese from cheese I've shredded myself and I don't think anyone else can tell the difference in a blind taste test.

Perhaps the best example is parmesan. You should buy a small brick and shred it, then compare to the Kraft tube we all know -- the difference is massive.

2016 report from Bloomberg on what "cellulose" means in grated Parmesan cheese. https://archive.ph/I3OuD

Re: It’s not mold, it’s calcium lactate (2018)

#47

Post by ahartmetz »

stevenwoo wrote: post #12

I'm now kind of upset at myself that I have thrown out perfectly good Cheddar in the past due to white spots.

Also, if you get bright white(!) spots on cheese like Brie (which is made with white fungus), it's usually just the cheese "reactivating". You - theoretically - don't even need to cut off anything.

Re: It’s not mold, it’s calcium lactate (2018)

#50

Post by kjkjadksj »

astura wrote: post #32
0_____0 wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tangent on tangent - in addition to the antifungal there is also anticaking agent (nothing crazy, often some type of flour) that noticeably changes the mouthfeel of cheeses that come pre-shredded. If you notice a grainy texture in your food, try grating it off a brick instead!

People are super religious about this but I've never been able to tell pre-shredded cheese from cheese I've shredded myself and I don't think anyone else can tell the difference in a blind taste test.

I dont know if I can tell on taste but the difference in mouth feel is huge. The shredded version has wood dust on it to keep it from sticking and you can definitely feel it against the cheese in the mouth vs much more smooth/liable to clump together hand shredded off the block cheese.
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