I've been skeptical for a while that pre-shredded cheese had something added to it. It doesn't stick together and it doesn't have as much flavor. I just read tonight what it is...Potato Starch
Natamycin
Corn Starch
Calcium Sulfate
It requires 4 extra ingredients that I don't really want in my cheese. I had actually just been trying to believe that the cheese must just be dried out after being shredded. Wrong! I have been buying less and less pre-shredded cheese for a while now, and reluctantly buying what I did. I just had a hunch something wasn't right. Calcium Sulfate is used to make plaster, quick setting cements, molds, and casts among other not-so-appetizing things. Plus! Who needs more starch in their diet? Not me. No thank you. I get plenty of starches and would prefer to keep them out of my cheese.
It seems like the more research you do the more you find chemicals in our everyday foods. I am by no means a health food junkie or granola mom (although I really wish I was!) but I want to be an informed mom. I want to do my part to stay healthy and to raise healthy children.
A while back my mother in law introduced me to Tillamook cheese and it is just about all I buy now. It costs a little more but the taste is totally worth it. And now that I know about the additives in pre-shredded cheese, I will be buying the bigger blocks rather than the smaller.
So funny you just posted this now bc about 2 weeks ago I had the exact same thought. And I am really conscious of what buy to eat but pre shredded cheese seemed so basic and easy! It only takes a few extra seconds to grade it! Why not? It's so much better for you! It's amazing the crap you find in food. You should check out allergy kids.org. My friend here in Boulder started it and the info she puts out daily on food is astounding. Her tweets and fb links ate fantastic. google Robyn O'Brien...
ReplyDeleteIt never would have occured to me that it wasn't sticking together! You would have liked Nicole's talk this past Tuesday. I always thought it was the same as regular cheese, just already shredded. Looks like I'm buying block cheese from now on.
ReplyDeleteTillamook is very big in Denmark. I had never had it until we visited there last year. It is delicious! Thanks for the insight!
ReplyDeleteEven my grandkids know that pre-shredded cheese isn't good. One of them always asks me, "Is this home-shredded cheese?" Yes, it is.
ReplyDeleteI thought that maybe the pre-shredded was floured. But now I see it's worse than that.
Linda