What makes cheese stringy

In any case i believe the answer is that the substance in question involves long protein molecules which somehow interact to produce longer chains. The gist of it - end of page 1: "Stretch is the result of casein—casein interactions that are broken easily but also readily reform at different locations in the casein network.

Think of holding a piece of warm Mozzarella, take one end in each hand and gently pull it apart. The casein molecules are grabbing and releasing each other while sliding past as you pull the cheese. Add a comment. Active Oldest Votes. Improve this answer.

Ernie Ernie. Sign up or log in Sign up using Google. Sign up using Facebook. Sign up using Email and Password. Do use low heat. Gradual temperature changes and relatively low temperatures overall will prevent the fat from separating out of melting cheese. Adding cheese to boiling liquid can cause the protein to coagulate too quickly, turning it clumpy or stringy and squeezing out the fat into a greasy mess.

For best results, add cheese at the end of the cooking process so that it can just reach but not exceed its melting point. Do add acid. When making fondues, sauces, and soups, adding white wine or lemon juice helps keep cheeses melted and smooth. The added acid in these ingredients binds to the calcium in the melted cheese, preventing it from cross-linking with the proteins and keeping them separate instead of clumped together.

Wine and lemon juice also contribute some water to dilute the proteins and keep them flowing. Do add starch.

Flour or cornstarch is like insurance against clumping and stringiness in a cheese sauce. The starch coats the proteins and fats in the melted cheese, keeping the proteins from clumping and the fats from separating out. Overstirring encourages the proteins to clump and could create a stringy or lumpy texture. As it cools, melted cheese begins to get firm again and is more likely to clump. Save the mozzarella for pizza.

Private Notes Edit Delete. Comments Leave a Comment. Leave A Comment Cancel reply Your email address will not be published. Member ID. Featured Review. What We're Cooking Now. Menu A Vegan Thanksgiving Dinner. Menu A Cozy Fall Brunch. How do you eat your string cheese? Leave a comment. News U. Politics Joe Biden Congress Extremism. Special Projects Highline. HuffPost Personal Video Horoscopes.

Follow Us. Terms Privacy Policy. Baker Cheese is a fourth generation, family-owned, string cheese manufacturer located in St. Cloud, Wisconsin. Through generations of innovation, we have maintained the key elements to create truly exceptional, award winning natural string cheese.

If you are interested in purchasing Baker Cheese products, visit our Cheese Store page , or contact us to learn about our private label opportunities and learn more about the benefits of being a part of the Baker Cheese family, where quality is our family tradition. Baker Cheese News. We were recently asked by a leading international news media outlet to answer this simple question: What is the real difference between string cheese and mozzarella cheese?