String cheese

For the band, see The String Cheese Incident.
String cheese

Traditional Korbáčiky from Slovakia
Cookbook: String cheese  Media: String cheese

String cheese refers to several different types of cheese where the manufacturing process aligns the proteins in the cheese, which makes it stringy. When mozzarella is heated to 140 degrees, the milk proteins line up.[1] It is possible to peel strings or strips from the larger cheese.

Central Europe

In Slovakia, korbáčiky is made,[2] which is a salty sheep milk cheese, available smoked or unsmoked. It is traditionally made by hand-pulling steamed sheep's cheese into strings and braiding them. Machine milk versions are also available.[3][4]

West Asia

In Armenia, traditional string cheese is made with a white base. The type of milk used usually comes from an aged goat or sheep depending upon the production methods of the area of choice.[5] It includes black cumin[6] and a middle-eastern spice known as mahleb, and it comes in the form of a braided endless loop.[7] The cheese forms strings because of the way it is pulled during processing. There is also Syrian cheese processed this way. Other cheeses are only cut and pressed, not pulled, and don't develop strings.

Western Europe

Cheestrings became a popular snack in the UK and Republic of Ireland in the early 1990s. They are made from processed cheese by Kerry Group and the mascot is a cartoon character called Mr Strings.[8] The original advert had a theme tune based on the popular song "Bend Me, Shape Me" but with different lyrics ("You got a cheese string day or night, you got a cheese string you're all right").[9] The first version of this advert was set at a kids' disco, and a later remake was set at a funfair.[10] Originally Mr Strings was a wild cartoon character who pulled himself apart[11] but by the late 1990s the packaging had been redesigned with a more simplified mascot.[12] On television the original Mr Strings was phased out during the mid 2000s and replaced by an unseen character who played creepy practical jokes on teenage consumers. In the late 2000s the design of Mr Strings was changed for a third time[13] to appear more child-friendly and was given a new catchphrase ("Hey, I'm just cheese").[14]

North America

American string cheese

In the United States, string cheese generally refers to snack-sized servings of low-moisture mozzarella. This form of string cheese is roughly cylindrical, about 6 inches (15 cm) long and less than 1 inch (2.54 cm) in diameter. The cheese is cut and packaged, either individually or as a package of several lengths. The cheese used is nearly always a form of mozzarella, or a combination of mozzarella and cheddar. This type of string cheese gets its name because it can be eaten by pulling strips of cheese from the cylinder along its length and eating these strings.[15] It was invented in 1976 by Frank Baker.[16]

Mexico

In Mexico, a very popular type of string cheese called Quesillo is sold in balls of various sizes. It is also known as "Queso Oaxaca" or Oaxaca cheese.

Oceania

In Australia, string cheese is sold by Bega Cheese and is called Bega Stringers. Also string cheese can be sold in a can.[17][18]

See also

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/14/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.