The Great Cheese Debate: A Taste Test of Pre-Shredded vs Hand-Graded Bagged Cheese

I decided to put my hand to the test and conduct a taste test of four different types of bagged cheese. I had three pre-shredded options, labeled as washed, rinsed, and adulterated, as well as one hand-graded option. The goal was to see if there was a noticeable difference in taste between the two.

As I began the tasting process, it became clear that all four types of cheese were pretty similar in taste. However, upon closer inspection, I noticed some distinct differences. The washed and rinsed cheeses were too runny and had an unpleasant consistency, similar to American cheese. They melted too easily and lacked the rich flavor that I've come to expect from a high-quality cheese.

The hand-graded option was much more pleasant, with a smooth texture and a subtle tanginess. However, one of the cheeses in this category stood out as being particularly mild, almost to the point of being bland. It seemed like it had been watered down or adulterated in some way, but I couldn't quite put my finger on what was different.

The adulterated cheese took a hit when I ate it immediately after one of the hand-graded options. The taste was noticeably worse, and it seemed like it had lost some of its natural flavor and texture as a result of being mixed with other ingredients. However, even in this case, the differences between pre-shredded and hand-graded cheese weren't dramatic.

It's worth noting that I did find one major difference between pre-shredded and hand-graded cheese: cost. Hand-grading one's own cheese is significantly cheaper than buying bagged options, which are often sold with anti-caking agents to prevent them from separating. These agents can affect the melting point and flavor of the cheese, making it less desirable for some consumers.

As I continued my tasting, I realized that the differences between pre-shredded and hand-graded cheese were not as severe as I had initially thought. The pre-shredded options still offered a decent flavor and texture, even if they didn't quite match those of their hand-graded counterparts. However, there was one major advantage to choosing hand-graded cheese: the freedom to control the amount of anti-caking agents that are added.

The real winner in this debate turned out to be the consumer who chooses to shred their own cheese. Not only is it cheaper and fresher than buying bagged options, but it also means that you get to avoid those pesky anti-caking agents that can affect the flavor and melting point of your cheese. Of course, not everyone has the time or inclination to grate their own cheese, but for those who do, it's a game-changer.

One final message to the folks who happily shred their own cheese is to please cut out with the sawdust propaganda when it comes to cellulose. Cellulose is a plant fiber that can come from many different sources, and not all of them are created equal. While some brands may use sawdust or other wood pulp as an ingredient in their cheeses, this doesn't necessarily mean that they're using subpar materials.

In fact, many food-grade cellulose products are made from plant fibers like cotton linters or bamboo, which are harvested through sustainable and environmentally-friendly processes. So the next time you hear someone warning about sawdust in cheese, take it with a grain of salt. The real issue is often not the ingredients themselves, but rather the way that they're being used.

And speaking of misconceptions, there's one particular myth that's been circulating online for a while now: that Cool Whip is made from vegetable oil and that vegetable oil is pure poison that will give you cancer as soon as you touch it to your lips. While it's true that some vegetable oils may be highly processed or contain unhealthy additives, this is not necessarily the case with all vegetable-based products.

In fact, many food-grade vegetable oils are derived from healthy sources like avocados or nuts, and can actually provide a range of health benefits when consumed in moderation. So let's be careful not to spread unnecessary fear-mongering about food ingredients – after all, it's not exactly the kind of thing that fosters a positive relationship with groceries.

Finally, I want to give a shout-out to my friends at Trade Coffee, who have been sending me their delicious coffee for years. Their commitment to quality and sustainability is unmatched, and their subscription service is the perfect way to experience their unique blends from the comfort of your own home. And as an added bonus, they're offering new customers a free first bag when they sign up – just be sure to use my link to get the deal!

With that, I wrap up this article on the great cheese debate. While there may not have been a dramatic difference between pre-shredded and hand-graded cheese, it's clear that choosing one over the other can make a big impact on flavor, texture, and overall satisfaction. And who knows – you might just find yourself shedding your bagged cheese woes forever, thanks to the power of hand-grading your own cheese at home.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enshould you rinse shredded cheese under cold water before cooking it into a dish if you need a short answer quick I will put it right here in post avert your eyes if you hate a spoiler with the Tik Tok Watchers satisfied and moved on to a new video I can take the time to explain how I got to this point someone told me I should try running bagged shredded cheese under cold water the idea behind the practice is that the water washes off the anti-caking powders that coat each Strand and since that's the major difference between pre-bagged and freshly graded it could be the ultimate Confluence of quality and convenience so I Google it and I see this is a 5-year-old life hack from Reddit but it's seeing a Resurgence as a semi viral Tik Tock Trend then I read this article that says no dummy don't wash your cheese underwater that's so stupid but the reasoning inside the article is horrible yes obviously the best choice is to grate your cheese by hand every time it's cheaper and less adulterated but there's no acknowledgement of the convenience that obviously motivates people to buy bagged cheese in the first place and worse yet no mention as to whether or not the rinsing trick even works this article stinks so I tested it myself at home I measured three 25 G servings of the same store brand montere Jack one pre-shredded and unwashed one pre-shredded and washed and one hand graded off the block the first observation I had at this stage is that rinsing cheese underwater feels a little grosser than I expected it to The Joy of Cooking is partially fostered by the pleasure you derive from the act of preparing food so introducing a yucky step shouldn't be written off as inconsequential to the final fin product anyway I melted each serving in between a folded up flower tortilla and then toasted them all in the same pan at the same heat for the same amount of time I will Shuffle these up so I don't know which is which and then run the test my pre-test disclaimer is that I have zero dogs in this fight we will always continue to have bagged cheese in our refrigerator cuz that's what my wife uses and we will always continue to have blocked cheese because I use a food processor to grade it quickly and easily I just want to see if washing is a valid tactic first things first this one is very visually different you can see that the cheese is sort of spilling out it's also the only one where the plate is oily I don't know if that means that the Emulsion has been broken I don't know how delicate that balance is but it seems as though washing it with water has thrown off that Emulsion I guarantee you that this is the water washed one it just looks so bizarre even before I cut into it so I will go start with this one first and see how it stretches very cheese-like very normal in my opinion I did give these a minute to cool down so it's not like they're hot off the presses they're not going to stretch super far I already know this one is the baged cheese it stretches a little bit spinder and more translucent and if you get in real close with these translucent strands you can kind of see the little grains of cellulose or anti-caking agent so how did I do for first of all just by looking at them wow you did so good okay well that solves that then you know they're all pretty similar in taste actually this one is too runny it shouldn't be that loose based on how long these have been sitting after cooking it's behaving as if it's like an american cheese like it melts too easily so I'll say that one is the watered down rinsed washed one this one is much milder this one has some kind of like weird twanging to it this one's just like a mild normal cheese this one isn't bad but it tastes somewhat different somewhat adulterated that could have something to do with the fact that I ate this one after this one they're close enough but I will say block hand graded bagged pre-shredded uh washed how did I do washed is correct you flipped bagged and you it yeah I think the takeaway should be that the taste between pre-shredded and um hand graded isn't that severe and there's really no reason to wash the cheese so if anyone asks me if they should try rinsing their pre-shredded bag cheese I will say no shredding your own is cheaper fresher and it keeps anti-caking agents out of your cheese so that they melt a little better and they taste a little better but bag cheese isn't that much worse it's still melted it still stayed emulsified and I'd i' rather have a little potato starch or cellulose added to my cheese than a little bit of water can you imagine the outrage you'd see on IG from the community of reals makers who love fomenting food anxiety like guys you're not going to believe this but the government is adding water to our cheese to water it down if you're a bagged cheese buyer but you still wish you could maximize quality without having to grate your own just buy the thickest shreds you can get ultra fine shreds will have much more surface area and thus more powders relative to the amount of actual cheese if you're making a big meaty burrito with tons of fillings you probably won't even notice the difference between hand grated and bagged but in a dish where the cheese itself is a major player like a cheese pizza or macaroni and cheese you are more likely to notice the slight dip in quality that covers two out of the three options for the wash curious just don't for the bag addicts it's fine but I owe one final message to the folks like me who happily shred their own cheese most of the time let us please cut it out with the sawdust propaganda cellulose isn't sawdust cellulose is a plant fiber that can come from tons of sources that being said a lot of the food grade cellulose used in processed foods is made from wood pulp but it's not like someone's scraping up Timber shavings off of their workshop floor and mailing it to ConAgra to bulk up the shredded muds the worst part about making my couple dozen little shorts about confusing groceries is that so many people leapfrogged my conclusions and then took them too far to remain correct like yes Cool Whip is made out of vegetable oil and vegetable oil is pure poison that will give you cancer as soon as you touch it to your lips or yes prepackaged cheese is lower in quality and it's most mostly made out of sawdust just look it up she and now that type of alarmist content is its own lucrative genre of short form media if the names baby head and Goblin head mean anything to you please allow me to petition on behalf of their less successful less reals friendly counterpart levelhead ooh that's a really good burn for like the 200 people who are going to get it trade has paid to be mentioned at the end of this video if you can taste the difference between wet washed cheese and the good freshly grated stuff I bet you can taste the difference between stale old coffee and freshly roasted there isn't a much better feeling coming home from a long vacation to one your bedet Why do hotels still not have those and two your precious Trade coffee that tastes infinitely better than pods or grocery store grounds trade lets you pick a type of coffee I like medium roasts the one labeled rean animator is my current favorite and they deliver it to your door within 48 Hours of its roast date I like the new collections page where you can pick between single origin or c that are best for espresso or best for being served cold my subscription was set to all espressos but now that it's 115 out I'm taking my Coffee iced give trade a try it will transform the way that you experience coffee at home they are offering your first bag free when you visit drink trade.com Shaquille And subscribe trade guarantees that you will love your first bag or they will replace it for free that's drink trade.com Shaquille for your first bag free when you subscribeshould you rinse shredded cheese under cold water before cooking it into a dish if you need a short answer quick I will put it right here in post avert your eyes if you hate a spoiler with the Tik Tok Watchers satisfied and moved on to a new video I can take the time to explain how I got to this point someone told me I should try running bagged shredded cheese under cold water the idea behind the practice is that the water washes off the anti-caking powders that coat each Strand and since that's the major difference between pre-bagged and freshly graded it could be the ultimate Confluence of quality and convenience so I Google it and I see this is a 5-year-old life hack from Reddit but it's seeing a Resurgence as a semi viral Tik Tock Trend then I read this article that says no dummy don't wash your cheese underwater that's so stupid but the reasoning inside the article is horrible yes obviously the best choice is to grate your cheese by hand every time it's cheaper and less adulterated but there's no acknowledgement of the convenience that obviously motivates people to buy bagged cheese in the first place and worse yet no mention as to whether or not the rinsing trick even works this article stinks so I tested it myself at home I measured three 25 G servings of the same store brand montere Jack one pre-shredded and unwashed one pre-shredded and washed and one hand graded off the block the first observation I had at this stage is that rinsing cheese underwater feels a little grosser than I expected it to The Joy of Cooking is partially fostered by the pleasure you derive from the act of preparing food so introducing a yucky step shouldn't be written off as inconsequential to the final fin product anyway I melted each serving in between a folded up flower tortilla and then toasted them all in the same pan at the same heat for the same amount of time I will Shuffle these up so I don't know which is which and then run the test my pre-test disclaimer is that I have zero dogs in this fight we will always continue to have bagged cheese in our refrigerator cuz that's what my wife uses and we will always continue to have blocked cheese because I use a food processor to grade it quickly and easily I just want to see if washing is a valid tactic first things first this one is very visually different you can see that the cheese is sort of spilling out it's also the only one where the plate is oily I don't know if that means that the Emulsion has been broken I don't know how delicate that balance is but it seems as though washing it with water has thrown off that Emulsion I guarantee you that this is the water washed one it just looks so bizarre even before I cut into it so I will go start with this one first and see how it stretches very cheese-like very normal in my opinion I did give these a minute to cool down so it's not like they're hot off the presses they're not going to stretch super far I already know this one is the baged cheese it stretches a little bit spinder and more translucent and if you get in real close with these translucent strands you can kind of see the little grains of cellulose or anti-caking agent so how did I do for first of all just by looking at them wow you did so good okay well that solves that then you know they're all pretty similar in taste actually this one is too runny it shouldn't be that loose based on how long these have been sitting after cooking it's behaving as if it's like an american cheese like it melts too easily so I'll say that one is the watered down rinsed washed one this one is much milder this one has some kind of like weird twanging to it this one's just like a mild normal cheese this one isn't bad but it tastes somewhat different somewhat adulterated that could have something to do with the fact that I ate this one after this one they're close enough but I will say block hand graded bagged pre-shredded uh washed how did I do washed is correct you flipped bagged and you it yeah I think the takeaway should be that the taste between pre-shredded and um hand graded isn't that severe and there's really no reason to wash the cheese so if anyone asks me if they should try rinsing their pre-shredded bag cheese I will say no shredding your own is cheaper fresher and it keeps anti-caking agents out of your cheese so that they melt a little better and they taste a little better but bag cheese isn't that much worse it's still melted it still stayed emulsified and I'd i' rather have a little potato starch or cellulose added to my cheese than a little bit of water can you imagine the outrage you'd see on IG from the community of reals makers who love fomenting food anxiety like guys you're not going to believe this but the government is adding water to our cheese to water it down if you're a bagged cheese buyer but you still wish you could maximize quality without having to grate your own just buy the thickest shreds you can get ultra fine shreds will have much more surface area and thus more powders relative to the amount of actual cheese if you're making a big meaty burrito with tons of fillings you probably won't even notice the difference between hand grated and bagged but in a dish where the cheese itself is a major player like a cheese pizza or macaroni and cheese you are more likely to notice the slight dip in quality that covers two out of the three options for the wash curious just don't for the bag addicts it's fine but I owe one final message to the folks like me who happily shred their own cheese most of the time let us please cut it out with the sawdust propaganda cellulose isn't sawdust cellulose is a plant fiber that can come from tons of sources that being said a lot of the food grade cellulose used in processed foods is made from wood pulp but it's not like someone's scraping up Timber shavings off of their workshop floor and mailing it to ConAgra to bulk up the shredded muds the worst part about making my couple dozen little shorts about confusing groceries is that so many people leapfrogged my conclusions and then took them too far to remain correct like yes Cool Whip is made out of vegetable oil and vegetable oil is pure poison that will give you cancer as soon as you touch it to your lips or yes prepackaged cheese is lower in quality and it's most mostly made out of sawdust just look it up she and now that type of alarmist content is its own lucrative genre of short form media if the names baby head and Goblin head mean anything to you please allow me to petition on behalf of their less successful less reals friendly counterpart levelhead ooh that's a really good burn for like the 200 people who are going to get it trade has paid to be mentioned at the end of this video if you can taste the difference between wet washed cheese and the good freshly grated stuff I bet you can taste the difference between stale old coffee and freshly roasted there isn't a much better feeling coming home from a long vacation to one your bedet Why do hotels still not have those and two your precious Trade coffee that tastes infinitely better than pods or grocery store grounds trade lets you pick a type of coffee I like medium roasts the one labeled rean animator is my current favorite and they deliver it to your door within 48 Hours of its roast date I like the new collections page where you can pick between single origin or c that are best for espresso or best for being served cold my subscription was set to all espressos but now that it's 115 out I'm taking my Coffee iced give trade a try it will transform the way that you experience coffee at home they are offering your first bag free when you visit drink trade.com Shaquille And subscribe trade guarantees that you will love your first bag or they will replace it for free that's drink trade.com Shaquille for your first bag free when you subscribe\n"