I Washed My Cheese

If you thought this video was dumb u can blame the comment-leaver who told me to try rinsing my pre-shredded cheese and piqued my interest.
0:00 - Should You Rinse Shredded Cheese?
0:14 - The Backstory
1:02 - Experiment Design
1:57 - Visual Test
3:04 - Blind Taste Test
4:11 - My Final Conclusion
5:22 - A Cellulose Soapbox
6:21 - Ad for Trade Coffee

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[DisD]

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.

[synthiandrakon]

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

[benbriggsmusic]

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

[americanbagel]

I appreciate that you always say your sponsor "payed to be at the end of this video." It just makes the business feel so much more transparent and obvious to the viewer.

[morgantremble]

All of the footage of wet cheese is upsetting to me

[VPCh.]

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.

[eashanshenai]

Why I Wash My Cheese, NOT My Cutting Board

[glizzgoblin]

The journalism we needed thank you Shaquille

[shabustinkslol]

I worked at a couple of cheese factories. They made and shredded cheese, mostly for pizza chains but also for home consumers. Also string cheeses.

The cellulose in any given recipe is .25% for 'premium' blends to .80% in a more typical cheese blend for a major pizza chain. You also have to add 'control' for dust control at the shredders, which is just regular filtered water. This was typically another .15%-.30%. So all in, you're looking at maybe 1.25% by weight of cellulose and control in your bag of shredded cheese at home. In a standard 8oz bag of cheese that 1/10th of an ounce of cellulose and control.

You're really not going to taste or feel much of a difference with 1.25% added cellulose. It's not going to effect your melt either - every single pizza chain is using the cheese produced from like 3-4 companies produced at a couple dozen different mozzarella plants in the USA (assuming you live in the USA), and they all have EXTREMELY specific and tight standards for the melting and burning points for cheese that they use. If you have problems with the melt of your preshredded cheese, check to see what kinds of cheese are actually in it... cheddars for example don't melt as well as a mozz or a muenster (the two most common components of your standard pizza cheese). Whole milk vs part skim makes a difference too. Whole milk will melt faster because of the additional fat in the cheese, although I think in most cases people actually prefer the taste of part skim... the additional milk fat present in whole milk cheese kind of flattens some of the tangy notes that are in part skim.

And for what it's worth, myself and most other people I worked with in different departments still used pre shredded cheese 9/10 times because it's just a lot more convenient and the difference in taste and melting properties was nearly indistinguishable. When I'm making something nice like a lasagna from scratch I might opt for the block and shred it myself though, just because I don't necessarily know the 'days in bag' of the preshredded stuff. If I'm going all out I want something as fresh as possible, but the cellulose doesn't really factor into that decision.

[IjeomaThePlantMama]

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

[coachsteve.]

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

[stefanristicmovies]

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

[derekiscool]

one of your best vids in a while. you’ve been on a hot streak recently but i really like this one. it’s a healthy mix of “scripted shaq sermon” and your unscripted personality.

i’m a self-shred head til death but that thick cut stuff for burritos or what-have you is the certified netshaq tip you keep coming back for.

[pdfbanana]

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

[Acidlib]

Love the comment screenshot that said “seed oils poisoned my water, burnt my crops, and delivered a plague upon me!!!11!” lmao

[mandobrownie]

This is the one and only time in my whole span of watching cooking content that I can truthfully say I’ve discovered everything in this video on my own years ago. Still a great video for those who don’t wanna try and fail like I did!

[maxpagan]

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

[TheRupertmcgee]

I always get pre-shredded just because that's what works for me right now and for the most part or works just fine. If it gets mixed into any kind of wet ingredients before cooking or baking it usually works perfectly. I sometimes mix it with a small amount of ricotta for certain recipes, like a cheese melt on top of a chicken parm or the crust of a stuffed crust or cheesey bread or the top of lasagna. Might not work for everyone but works for me! And i tend to mix it with a little milk when I'm going to make mac which works like washing but less work. I've been curious about straight up washing it but that felt like a lot of extra steps and dishes compared to just doing what i already do. Glad to know it's not worth it!

[steveandrews]

This is the only channel I still find myself coming back to regularly, thank you for not selling out <3

[jessl]

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