Hot take: stop using pre-shredded cheese for weeknight tacos

I keep seeing people grab those bags of shredded cheddar at the store thinking it saves time. But that stuff has cellulose powder coating it so it doesnt clump, which means it melts like plastic. I timed it last Tuesday - took me 2 minutes to grate a block of Monterey Jack by hand. The texture difference is huge, the flavor is way better, and it actually melts into the meat instead of sitting on top. Anyone else ditched the bagged stuff after trying real cheese once?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_jake1mo ago

Bro right? That cellulose stuff is basically sawdust lmao. I switched to grating my own cheese a couple months ago and never looked back. The melting point difference is unreal - bagged cheese gets all greasy and weird while fresh cheese actually gets gooey and blends into everything. Plus you can control how fine or thick you want the shreds depending on what you're making. Taco night changed forever for me when I realized two minutes of grating saves the whole dish from plastic city.

stone.simon1mo ago

You ever tried freezing your block cheese first before grating it, @the_jake? Makes it even easier.

the_sarah29d ago

Plastic city" really is the perfect way to describe it, @the_jake. I used to grab the pre-shredded bags out of pure laziness, honestly. But I tried a block of pepper jack for a batch of burritos last week and yeah, I get it now. The melt was totally different, it actually pulled and stretched instead of sitting there all rubbery.