6 ms·

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 te

by astura 2y ago

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.

thaumasiotes 2y ago
Pre-shredded cheese is much, much dryer than cheese you grate yourself. Unless the only cheese you ever eat is already dry, like a parmesan, it should be trivial to notice the difference.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
happyopossum 2y ago
taste is subjective, so I won't argue that point (although I do disagree with it), however if you're going to melt the cheese, it's very easy to tell the difference side by side.
- 0_____0 2y ago
  The anticaking agent doesn't have an effect on taste afaict, but it really is a large difference in texture. Some people key more on olfaction/taste, I have nervous system quirks that cause me to key heavily on texture.
kube-system 2y ago
Are you buying cheese that's shredded at the deli or something? The processed stuff in the bag seems to be plainly noticeable to me... e.g. https://www.health.com/thmb/weSqKiqtCDqtEK3nJ5HWrViwQNM=/1500x0/filters:no_upscale():max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(webp)/Health-GettyImages-539802384-072b1d2d29c74caa850d2eb1500b094c.jpg https://www.health.com/thmb/weSqKiqtCDqtEK3nJ5HWrViwQNM=/150...
- Suppafly 2y ago
  >The processed stuff in the bag seems to be plainly noticeable to me... Sure, when you're eating it by the handful, but when it's melted in a dish (the thing people typically use it for) you aren't going to notice.
  - 0_____0 2y ago
    I wonder if there's a confounding factor here, because that's precisely where I tend to notice it the most. The anticaking agent lends a grainyness to an otherwise smooth foodstuff. Are you thinking more of a cheese sauce, or cheese that gets melted into e.g. a burrito?
    - Suppafly 2y ago
      My family eats a lot of shredded cheese, pre and home shredded, I've never noticed in anything melted nor in anything where it's only half melted like tacos. Any graininess that might be present would be far offset by the other ingredients, but honestly I've never tasted any graininess. The anticaking stuff isn't even grainy, so why would the resulting cheese be grainy? You can lick a piece of pre-shredded cheese and the anticaking stuff flavorlessly dissolves in your mouth. I honestly believe most of this "graininess" is imagined after people read about it on the internet or hear about it from cooking shows. People have convinced themselves that cellulose = wood (notice it's mentioned in this thread several times) and somehow lose the ability to critically think about it. While cellulose is an anticaking agent, I don't think I've ever seen it used for cheese. Typically you see cheese using a modified corn starch. The anti-caking agent can cause some issues if you're making cheese sauces specifically, but generally if you're making a cheese sauce you're mixing in other ingredients and then dumping it over macaroni or potatoes or something anyway and it won't matter.
      - kube-system 2y ago
        > While cellulose is an anticaking agent, I don't think I've ever seen it used for cheese. Typically you see cheese using a modified corn starch. I've seen potato, corn, and cellulose. I suspect the ideal choice depends on the type of cheese. Here's shredded parmesan with cellulose for example: https://i5.walmartimages.com/asr/42642acb-1802-40dd-bfa6-795d18f8e7cd.e54bf51758ce438a1db0c1ef7909e845.jpeg?odnHeight=2000&odnWidth=2000&odnBg=FFFFFF https://i5.walmartimages.com/asr/42642acb-1802-40dd-bfa6-795...
parliament32 2y ago
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.
- kadoban 2y ago
  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.
- voidmain0001 2y ago
  2016 report from Bloomberg on what "cellulose" means in grated Parmesan cheese. https://archive.ph/I3OuD https://archive.ph/I3OuD
- craftkiller 2y ago
  I've had both and I'm going to have to disagree with you here. For the other cheeses, buying a brick is always the right choice. For parmesan, if its going on pasta I'm picking the green plastic tube of presumably mostly filler 100% of the time. Brick parm lacks the proper texture and has too strong of a flavor. Green tube mystery powder I can pour onto my pasta in mounds that then absord the butter making a soft delicious wet sand. Sometimes if I'm looking for a snack I just pour the green tube mystery powder directly into my mouth.
  - 0_____0 2y ago
    This, I think, is a case of Different Thing Same Name. The same way that coffee runs the gamut between the gnarliest of instant coffees to 3rd wave single-origin craft brews. Almost every step of the production chain is different, and while they're all technically coffee, they're basically different products, that get enjoyed in different contexts. Weirdly, I enjoy a 80s style black coffee when I'm at the greasy spoon around the corner - it just feels right. Your Green Tube Mystery Powder is a product sold under a name that is probably technically correct (Parmesan) but the "real thing" is a product that behaves completely differently and doesn't meet your wants or needs.
kjkjadksj 2y ago
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.
- astura 2y ago
  I bet you can't feel it in a blind taste test.
Suppafly 2y ago
>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. This. In actual dish, I doubt most could taste any difference. You only really notice when it's not melted fully or not melted at all.
wholinator2 2y ago
That's actually crazy to me. Like, a sealed, generic brand bag from the cold section of a chain grocery store vs a block purchased from the deli and shredded by hand? The difference is massive! Taste will vary between the two anyways but the texture difference is categorical. The pre shredded has grainy flour like stuff all over it, the manually shredded is completely smooth with no graininess at all. I can 1000% tell the difference in any kind of test you want to do. Where are you buying cheese that this comparison isn't noticable?
- dwighttk 2y ago
  most of my pre-shreded cheese has no such grainy flour like stuff all over it... Harris Teeter, but Kroger before that... I think I can remember once getting a bag with some noticeable anti-caking agent... in my life.
- gambiting 2y ago
  >>The difference is massive! Like...in what way? If I buy a block of Aldi's cheddar and Aldi's pre-shredded cheese it tastes the same once it's mixed into something - except the block saves me like 20p and wastes 10 minutes of my life on grating and cleaning up afterwards.
  - kelnos 2y ago
    > Like...in what way? GP literally told you the ways in their post: texture. Taste will vary regardless of the anti-caking agent, of course.
    - gambiting 2y ago
      Well, I can't tell personally, but good on OP for being able to tell.
s0rce 2y ago
I typically find the anticaking agents are very obvious, you can often feel them with your fingers and see them in the appearance of the product.
- tombrossman 2y ago
  I was taught to use a little cornstarch sprinkled over freshly grated cheese, and to me it is undetectable (served hot or cold) and works amazingly well. The shreds never clump together and are easy to scatter evenly.

by astura 2y ago

thaumasiotes 2y ago

Pre-shredded cheese is much, much dryer than cheese you grate yourself. Unless the only cheese you ever eat is already dry, like a parmesan, it should be trivial to notice the difference.

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

happyopossum 2y ago

taste is subjective, so I won't argue that point (although I do disagree with it), however if you're going to melt the cheese, it's very easy to tell the difference side by side.

0_____0 2y ago
The anticaking agent doesn't have an effect on taste afaict, but it really is a large difference in texture. Some people key more on olfaction/taste, I have nervous system quirks that cause me to key heavily on texture.

kube-system 2y ago

Are you buying cheese that's shredded at the deli or something? The processed stuff in the bag seems to be plainly noticeable to me... e.g. https://www.health.com/thmb/weSqKiqtCDqtEK3nJ5HWrViwQNM=/1500x0/filters:no_upscale():max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(webp)/Health-GettyImages-539802384-072b1d2d29c74caa850d2eb1500b094c.jpg https://www.health.com/thmb/weSqKiqtCDqtEK3nJ5HWrViwQNM=/150...

Suppafly 2y ago
>The processed stuff in the bag seems to be plainly noticeable to me... Sure, when you're eating it by the handful, but when it's melted in a dish (the thing people typically use it for) you aren't going to notice.
- 0_____0 2y ago
  I wonder if there's a confounding factor here, because that's precisely where I tend to notice it the most. The anticaking agent lends a grainyness to an otherwise smooth foodstuff. Are you thinking more of a cheese sauce, or cheese that gets melted into e.g. a burrito?
  - Suppafly 2y ago
    My family eats a lot of shredded cheese, pre and home shredded, I've never noticed in anything melted nor in anything where it's only half melted like tacos. Any graininess that might be present would be far offset by the other ingredients, but honestly I've never tasted any graininess. The anticaking stuff isn't even grainy, so why would the resulting cheese be grainy? You can lick a piece of pre-shredded cheese and the anticaking stuff flavorlessly dissolves in your mouth. I honestly believe most of this "graininess" is imagined after people read about it on the internet or hear about it from cooking shows. People have convinced themselves that cellulose = wood (notice it's mentioned in this thread several times) and somehow lose the ability to critically think about it. While cellulose is an anticaking agent, I don't think I've ever seen it used for cheese. Typically you see cheese using a modified corn starch. The anti-caking agent can cause some issues if you're making cheese sauces specifically, but generally if you're making a cheese sauce you're mixing in other ingredients and then dumping it over macaroni or potatoes or something anyway and it won't matter.
    - kube-system 2y ago
      > While cellulose is an anticaking agent, I don't think I've ever seen it used for cheese. Typically you see cheese using a modified corn starch. I've seen potato, corn, and cellulose. I suspect the ideal choice depends on the type of cheese. Here's shredded parmesan with cellulose for example: https://i5.walmartimages.com/asr/42642acb-1802-40dd-bfa6-795d18f8e7cd.e54bf51758ce438a1db0c1ef7909e845.jpeg?odnHeight=2000&odnWidth=2000&odnBg=FFFFFF https://i5.walmartimages.com/asr/42642acb-1802-40dd-bfa6-795...

parliament32 2y ago

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.

kadoban 2y ago
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.
voidmain0001 2y ago
2016 report from Bloomberg on what "cellulose" means in grated Parmesan cheese. https://archive.ph/I3OuD https://archive.ph/I3OuD
craftkiller 2y ago
I've had both and I'm going to have to disagree with you here. For the other cheeses, buying a brick is always the right choice. For parmesan, if its going on pasta I'm picking the green plastic tube of presumably mostly filler 100% of the time. Brick parm lacks the proper texture and has too strong of a flavor. Green tube mystery powder I can pour onto my pasta in mounds that then absord the butter making a soft delicious wet sand. Sometimes if I'm looking for a snack I just pour the green tube mystery powder directly into my mouth.
- 0_____0 2y ago
  This, I think, is a case of Different Thing Same Name. The same way that coffee runs the gamut between the gnarliest of instant coffees to 3rd wave single-origin craft brews. Almost every step of the production chain is different, and while they're all technically coffee, they're basically different products, that get enjoyed in different contexts. Weirdly, I enjoy a 80s style black coffee when I'm at the greasy spoon around the corner - it just feels right. Your Green Tube Mystery Powder is a product sold under a name that is probably technically correct (Parmesan) but the "real thing" is a product that behaves completely differently and doesn't meet your wants or needs.

kjkjadksj 2y ago

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.

astura 2y ago
I bet you can't feel it in a blind taste test.

Suppafly 2y ago

>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. This. In actual dish, I doubt most could taste any difference. You only really notice when it's not melted fully or not melted at all.

wholinator2 2y ago

That's actually crazy to me. Like, a sealed, generic brand bag from the cold section of a chain grocery store vs a block purchased from the deli and shredded by hand? The difference is massive! Taste will vary between the two anyways but the texture difference is categorical. The pre shredded has grainy flour like stuff all over it, the manually shredded is completely smooth with no graininess at all. I can 1000% tell the difference in any kind of test you want to do. Where are you buying cheese that this comparison isn't noticable?

dwighttk 2y ago
most of my pre-shreded cheese has no such grainy flour like stuff all over it... Harris Teeter, but Kroger before that... I think I can remember once getting a bag with some noticeable anti-caking agent... in my life.
gambiting 2y ago
>>The difference is massive! Like...in what way? If I buy a block of Aldi's cheddar and Aldi's pre-shredded cheese it tastes the same once it's mixed into something - except the block saves me like 20p and wastes 10 minutes of my life on grating and cleaning up afterwards.
- kelnos 2y ago
  > Like...in what way? GP literally told you the ways in their post: texture. Taste will vary regardless of the anti-caking agent, of course.
  - gambiting 2y ago
    Well, I can't tell personally, but good on OP for being able to tell.

s0rce 2y ago

I typically find the anticaking agents are very obvious, you can often feel them with your fingers and see them in the appearance of the product.

tombrossman 2y ago
I was taught to use a little cornstarch sprinkled over freshly grated cheese, and to me it is undetectable (served hot or cold) and works amazingly well. The shreds never clump together and are easy to scatter evenly.