Shredded Cheese

I’ll admit it. I buy pre-shredded cheese. That orange bag is one easy button I’m not ashamed to press.

There’s just so many other things to chop and slice and grate for dinner, why not streamline where you can?

I know, I know.

It doesn’t taste as good as freshly grated cheese, but does that really matter?

Is there that much of a difference between pre-shredded and real-shredded?

Is it worth it to drag out a box grater and do the hard work? All that back and forth for a teeny pile of cheese?

Well, yes.

The answer is yes.

It is worth it. There is that much of a difference.

In a recent kitchen clean up, I rediscovered an old grater on the back of a shelf. So, for taco Tuesday, I decided to “get crazy” with a REAL block of cheese.

I must have grated for a good two minutes, only to reveal maybe a couple of tablespoons of cheese under that box. But I kept at it, undeterred, until a generous layer of finely frayed cheddar sat atop my grilled veggies and refried beans.

Oh man, my poor tacos have so been missing out.

Me too.

Not only did the fresh cheese taste better, it tasted real.

Pre-shredded cheese retains its look because it is coated with starch or cellulose, which also helps the pieces stay separated in the bag. But this coating affects the way the cheese melts. (You know this if you’ve ever stuck a tortilla and some pre-shredded cheese in the microwave for a makeshift quesadilla. I mean, I’ve never done that, but I’ve heard of people doing it.) The coating also affects the way the cheese tastes.

This all should have been obvious to me, but I think I’d gotten so used to less-than-cheese cheese that I’d forgotten what the real stuff tastes like.

Sometimes the shortcuts short us.

We avoid the work in the interest of convenience, but worthy work is just that. Worth it.

A conversation rather than a text.

The scenic route instead of the fastest route.

The book before the movie.

These things might take longer and require more effort, but they’re worth it.

Easy isn’t always better. Nor is it always as good.

And life is simply too short and too hard for starch-coated cheese.

Take the time. Because your tacos, and you, deserve it.

Interested in object-based storytelling? My memoir, Piece by Piece: A Life Remembered through Things Lost, is available here. 📖💙