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

(www.thephcheese.com)
406 points ilikepi | 5 comments | 31 Mar 25 14:49 UTC | HN request time: 0.846s | source
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xattt ◴[31 Mar 25 15:20 UTC] No.43536057[source]▶
Tangential, but I recently noticed that natamycin, an antifungal agent, is being used in packages of shredded cheese as a preservative.

I was a little taken aback on seeing it, given that antibiotic stewardship has been pushed so much in the last decade.

I realize that natamycin is an antifungal and not an antibiotic, and that mechanisms of developing resistance are likely different between eukaryotes and prokaryotes. However, I’m still somewhat concerned what long-term low-level exposure will mean.

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0_____0 ◴[31 Mar 25 15:48 UTC] No.43536380[source]▶
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!
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astura ◴[31 Mar 25 16:05 UTC] No.43536574[source]▶
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.
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kube-system ◴[31 Mar 25 16:23 UTC] No.43536799[source]▶
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=/150...

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Suppafly ◴[31 Mar 25 17:14 UTC] No.43537341[source]▶
>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.

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kube-system ◴[31 Mar 25 17:38 UTC] No.43537597[source]▶
> when it's melted in a dish (the thing people typically use it for)

There are plenty of dishes that include unmelted shredded cheese. Salads and tacos are extremely common uses of shredded cheese here in the US.

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Suppafly ◴[31 Mar 25 17:43 UTC] No.43537658[source]▶
Sure, and I also doubt people's ability to tell the difference in a blind taste comparison. People claiming to do so visually see the anti-caking agent, they don't taste it. It doesn't taste grainy. You can taste a bit of corn starch or cellulose directly and tell that it doesn't taste 'grainy' or even have much of a flavor at all.
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1. kube-system ◴[31 Mar 25 17:50 UTC] No.43537727[source]▶
The point of the anti-caking agent is to prevent the cheese from sticking to itself, which inherently affects the texture of the cheese in your mouth... it doesn't stick to itself the same way freshly shredded cheese does, particularly if the cheese is soft and sticky like processed american cheeses. Although it is likely less noticeable for dryer and harder cheeses.
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2. Suppafly ◴[31 Mar 25 18:05 UTC] No.43537886[source]▶
>The point of the anti-caking agent is to prevent the cheese from sticking to itself, which inherently affects the texture of the cheese in your mouth

It does so by keeping the cheese 'dryer' than it normally would be. Putting it in your mouth basically undoes that. You're only going to notice if you're eating it by the handful, not when you're using it in actual food dishes.

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3. kelnos ◴[31 Mar 25 18:56 UTC] No.43538446[source]▶
> It does so by keeping the cheese 'dryer' than it normally would be. Putting it in your mouth basically undoes that.

That's not how chemistry works.

4. josephg ◴[31 Mar 25 19:15 UTC] No.43538657[source]▶
You seem very certain that you know how my mouth works. I promise you, you don’t.

I’m a super taster. I did a test when I was 20. You take a macro photo of your tongue and count the taste buds in a 1cm square spot. From what I read at the time, the average person has 25 taste buds per sq cm. I have 40. Some people have as few as 10. Imagine how different food must taste to all of us!

And flavours don’t just “scale up”. Some flavours are way too strong for me - like, spinach is super strong. If spinach is on pizza, all I taste is spinach. I can’t taste anything else and I may as well be eating a salad. I can’t eat dark chocolate - it tastes like a punch in the mouth with wood ash. And I’ve never been able to drink coffee.

One of my all time favorite meals is plain pasta with butter and grated Parmesan. So simple. So yummy. But pre shredded cheese doesn’t melt the same way on pasta - and the difference is obvious to my mouth. Shredded Parmesan cheese has a much weaker cheese taste - even from the same brand. And the texture is all wrong.

Maybe your mouth can’t tell the difference. But don’t claim to know how my mouth works. I suspect if we could trade mouths for the day, we’d both be shocked.

5. rdlw ◴[31 Mar 25 19:33 UTC] No.43538884[source]▶
> It does so by keeping the cheese 'dryer' than it normally would be. Putting it in your mouth basically undoes that.

By this logic, shouldn't croutons and cubes of fresh bread be indistinguishable?