I Washed My Cheese

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I don't use TikTok or Instagram and have YouTube Shorts as nuked from view as possible, so videos like this feel like an Animal Planet special about some obscure deep sea creature I've never heard of.

The thing about this is even if it works. I feel like it's no longer more convenient than grating cheese. Pre grated cheese is only convenient under the circumstances that it's in a bag in the fridge you can use instantly and don't have to wash your grater afterwards. The moment there is a second step and now you have wet cheese, and a sieve to clean you'll start wondering why you aren't just grating your own cheese

All of the footage of wet cheese is soooooo upsetting to me

I literally put my thumb over the spoiler and giggled like a little kid watching Dora the explorer

The ironic part about the "sawdust in cheese" alarmists is that the same people often also claim that modern processed food are inherently dangerous and that we should eat foods closer to what pre-agricultural people ate. Pre-agricultural people would have eaten huge amounts of cellulose compared to us. It's a major component of foods like roots, nuts, fruit, shoots, berries, and similar foods. If anything, eating more insoluble fiber like cellulose is good for the average person eating a modern diet.

the only dairy rinsing i do is in fancy cocktails like papa shaq taught me

The fact that other people are aware of baby head and goblin head and it’s not just some obscure part of the internet I’ve found myself on is crazy

I don't understand how buying shredded cheese and then washing it would ever be more convienient then just grating your own cheese.

The "cellulose = sawdust" thing is especially ridiculous because it's not like we don't eat other things made from trees. Cinnamon is tree bark! I firmly believe that 1) cheese quality 2) moisture content and 3) shred size are far bigger influences on the melting quality of bagged cheese than the presence of anti-clumping powder. I've had crappy super fine shred "Mexican blend" cheese that absolutely refused to melt properly. It wasn't dustier than similar cheese that melted well, but it was noticeably drier and chewier. Online food talkers sometimes act like bagged cheese will never melt! It's especially strange when they say this in the context of a cheese sauce that uses a starch (e.g. mornay sauce). The biggest problem with bagged cheese isn't the powder, it's just that it limits you to a pretty narrow range of low-moisture cheeses. I will never hand shred mild cheddar or jack for a late-night quesadilla, but if I'm making a grilled cheese or a mac and cheese I want more options.

I already knew this vid was coming, but I still am very entertained. Pomodoro hive, rise up 🙌🏿🙌🏿

The journalism we needed thank you Shaquille

I've used this trick in exactly one scenario: making pizza when I only have pre shredded mozz. I did my own control test between not washing and washing from the same bag, and while it doesn't really impact the flavor, although there was a slightly burnt starchy flavor from the unwashed, the main impact was it melting evenly. The unwashed look like that cafeteria pizza you got in high school where you still see the individual strands while the washed looked like a normal pizza. I also much prefer shredding/slicing my own but sometimes you gotta use what you have available.

in britain, a company started making “pizza cheese”, which is just shredded mozzarella but in bigger chunks to reduce the caking agent, unfortunately i don’t think it’s been very popular because i’ve only seen it in shops maybe twice before the advertising across the country slowly disappeared, but that seemed to perfectly fill the gap and i was really excited to get a pack lol

"I wash my cheese so I don't have to wash my hands" the follow up to salting the chopping board

Even if washing cheese got it back to the level of hand-grated, the major benefit of pre-bagged is convenience. If I'm going to have to add a step and wash something in order to enjoy cheese, grating it will always win out.

all those pomodoro streams paid off, new shaq vid lets go

Rising your pre-grated bagged cheese is a perfect technique for people who want convenience but not that much convenience 🤭

Even though I can tell the difference, I still use bagged cheese when I am feeling lazy AF. And even being in the target audience for this "hack", washing pre-grated cheese seems like more work than grating cheese. Also even thinking about the texture of wet cheese makes me gag a little.

should I be proud that I didn't get the baby head thing you said at the end?