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Why does Swiss cheese have holes?

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Re: Why does Swiss cheese have holes?

#171

Post by enaaem »

plorkyeran wrote: post #118
murukesh_s wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wondering why someone did not solve the problem already? Of all the countries in the world US is brimming with entrepreneurs who want to "solve" a consumer problem, and with modern population I assume there is enough demand on fresh/healthier products - why on earth someone wouldn't try to fix it there?

Solving the problem of european tourists being unable to figure out that they have to walk to the bakery section of the supermarket rather than the shelf-stable bread-like products section if they want something they consider bread does not sound like much of a business opportunity.

You think Europe does not have supermarkets?

Re: Why does Swiss cheese have holes?

#172

Post by mschuster91 »

baxtr wrote: post #159
fsckboy wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> that they export the junk cheese to the US and keep the good stuff people who produce and sell stuff follow profit maximization. Colombia sells its best coffee on the export market because there it will command the highest prices. The people who live in wine growing regions (agricultural) do not have the disposable income to afford expensive wines, so they are shipped to cities. Great croissants are sold locally be…

What you are describing holds true only if the buyer values the higher quality, which is true for coffee. But if you can send the cheap stuff and get the same price why not do that and keep the high quality items for the local market? Southern Europeans export their tasteless tomatoes to Northern Europe because people there don’t value tasty tomatoes that much. So southern Europeans keep the good vegetables for thems…

> Southern Europeans export their tasteless tomatoes to Northern Europe because people there don’t value tasty tomatoes that much. So southern Europeans keep the good vegetables for themselves.

It's the other way around. The problem is that mass-market tomato varieties have been selected and bred for a long shelf life - which led to them losing taste because breeders didn't care about taste, only about durability [1]. And the flavors aren't the only thing that went away, the second breeding focus on yield led to tomatoes that don't have as much sugar any more because there's only so much sugar a single plant can make.

So if you want to ship tomatoes to Nothern European countries that actually last a few days of display time on the shelf before going bad, you'll want to breed varieties with less taste. If you were to ship tasty tomatoes, probably half the shipment would go bad before ever reaching the store.

And that's not just valid for tomatoes, it's valid for all sorts of agricultural products - including meat. You're only going to get the truly good stuff if you go local and pay the surcharge for varieties and breeds that are "less efficient" to grow but yield more flavor.

[1] https://www.science.org/content/article/why-tomatoes-got-bla...

Re: Why does Swiss cheese have holes?

#173

Post by mda »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #64
palata wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Swiss cheese" is not... a "Swiss" cheese. It's just the name of a cheese, but that cheese does not come from Switzerland.

> that cheese does not come from Switzerland The canton of Bern makes an absolutely excellent Emmantaler. It’s the original Swiss cheese as brought to America by 19th-century Swiss immigrants to Wisconsin.

I always found Emmentaler bland and boring compared to many others in Switzerland, I wish the immigrants brought something better.

Re: Why does Swiss cheese have holes?

#175

Post by sunrunner »

pclmulqdq wrote: post #82
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It is arrogant, at least. Are you trashing just the 340 million people in the US with this comment, or everybody not-Swiss? You’re parsing discernment as a value judgement. Don’t do that. New York City has America’s best bagels. This is because OG bagels are best fresh, and making them fresh multiple times a day takes a lot of work. (They stale super fast because gluten is a bastard. Hence toasting.) To pay for tha…

I'm not a fan of New York bagels. They're generally too doughy and "white bread" tasting for me. Plenty of places have excellent bagels that are pre-boiled with lye. The lye boiling process is not special. What is unique is the particular taste and texture, and it's just one kind of bagel that you can prefer or not prefer. Your whole comment below about "discernment" and seeking New York bagels out sounds like a pers…

> bred by familiarity

Bread by familiarity, surely? Sorry for the awful bun. I mean pun.

Re: Why does Swiss cheese have holes?

#176

Post by alkonaut »

NoPicklez wrote: post #33
kleiba wrote: post #2

The term "Swiss cheese" is a constant source of amusement for people from Europe... you know, like, there is only one type of cheese made in Switzerland...

Well of course not, but at some point it became an icon. Similar to eating a Danish pastry, like the Danish only made one type of pastry... Of course cheese with holes in it isn't the only type of cheese they make

> Similar to eating a Danish pastry, like the Danish only made one type of pastry...

Amusingly, the danish pastry would be called "wienerbrød" meaning: bread from Vienna. like the Viennese only made one type of pastry...

Luckily, the Viennese don't call it something-from-somewhere, so the chain ends at 3. I wonder if there is a 4-chain of terms anywhere.

Re: Why does Swiss cheese have holes?

#177

Post by hnhg »

cm2012 wrote: post #109
fragmede wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

they said bread, not sugar fluff with a brown outside. Don't get me wrong, shit's delicious. It's just not what bread should be.

If you can only find wonderbread I am surprised. Example of great bread: https://www.ibfoods.com/search.php?search_query=Bread

You've proven their point for them.

Re: Why does Swiss cheese have holes?

#179

Post by Steve44 »

kleiba wrote: post #2

The term "Swiss cheese" is a constant source of amusement for people from Europe... you know, like, there is only one type of cheese made in Switzerland...

In the UK it's fairly common to use the term "Swiss cheese". Most people would know you are talking about Emmental or Gruyere and it would have the bubbles/holes in it.

Although they are not the same cheese, they are quite close in texture and flavour and are fairly interchangeable to the point where I don't think a significant number of people could tell you which was which.

There is also the Swiss Cheese Model which is when several unfortunate events all line up to cause a major incident.

Re: Why does Swiss cheese have holes?

#180

Post by cjs_ac »

fsckboy wrote: post #154
chris_va wrote: post #24

> Properly formed eyes are a mark of quality. Except when I asked someone who makes cheese in Switzerland, they told me almost the opposite (and mostly that they export the junk cheese to the US and keep the good stuff). As an aside, what are the odds this article was written by AI? It has that feel (minus random bolding and bullet points).

> that they export the junk cheese to the US and keep the good stuff people who produce and sell stuff follow profit maximization. Colombia sells its best coffee on the export market because there it will command the highest prices. The people who live in wine growing regions (agricultural) do not have the disposable income to afford expensive wines, so they are shipped to cities. Great croissants are sold locally be…

Swiss consumers are wealthier than American consumers.
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