# How does stringcheese work? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 25, 2004, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-stringcheese-work/241942 "2004-04-25T18:33:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2004, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-stringcheese-work/241942/1 "2004-04-25T18:33:52Z")
I brown-bag lunch to school and eat during classes, so my lunches are generally easy-and-fast, both in terms of eating and packing them. Including string cheese. Normal cheese, in my experience, does not ‘string’ vertically or horizontally when peeled. String Cheese, such as Polly-O (the best brand, IMO), does. How and/or why? ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2004, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-stringcheese-work/241942/2 "2004-04-25T20:17:49Z")
String cheese is really just mozzarella. Pizza cheese, yes? If you extrude it during the cheesemaking process, or stretch it and spin it, then it gets stringy, and then it’s marketed as “string cheese”. [http://www.foodsubs.com/Chessoft.html#mozzarella](http://www.foodsubs.com/Chessoft.html#mozzarella) > **[Learn All About Traditional Fresh Mozzarella Cheese](https://www.thespruceeats.com/what-is-mozzarella-cheese-1807036)** > > Learn about fresh mozzarella cheese, from the origins of this quintessential Italian ingredient to what types of milk are used to make it. [http://www.evitamins.com/healthnotes/healthnotes.asp?ContentID=1956002](http://www.evitamins.com/healthnotes/healthnotes.asp?ContentID=1956002) ---
**Author:** ![inkleberry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f17d59/32.png) [@inkleberry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/inkleberry)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2004, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-stringcheese-work/241942/3 "2004-04-25T20:21:55Z")
> [@NinjaChick](#): > > I brown-bag lunch to school and eat during classes, so my lunches are generally easy-and-fast, both in terms of eating and packing them. Including string cheese. > > Normal cheese, in my experience, does not ‘string’ vertically or horizontally when peeled. String Cheese, such as Polly-O (the best brand, IMO), does. How and/or why? String cheese is simply mozzerella cheese in a log shape. If you go to the store and buy a brick of regular whole milk mozzerella, you will see it can be “string cheesed” too. It is hard to peel strings off large bricks, but if cut into logs, it will happily string for you all day. Only mozzerella cheese dows this. Perhaps because of the way it is made (boiled)? Perhaps mozzerella cheese is a great and terrible cheese? Who knows. I gobble first, ask questions later. ---
**Author:** ![Lando\_Griffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f17d59/32.png) [@Lando\_Griffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lando_Griffin)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2004, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-stringcheese-work/241942/4 "2004-04-25T20:24:31Z")
The real question is, why does it taste different when you just bite the log instead of peeling it? 😕 It just doesn’t make sense! ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2004, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-stringcheese-work/241942/5 "2004-04-25T21:03:05Z")
> [@Lando Griffin](#): > > The real question is, why does it taste different when you just bite the log instead of peeling it? 😕 > > It just doesn’t make sense! must…not…make…smartass…reply… ---
**Author:** ![Lando\_Griffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f17d59/32.png) [@Lando\_Griffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lando_Griffin)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2004, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-stringcheese-work/241942/6 "2004-04-25T23:32:14Z")
No no, go ahead, I enjoy smartass replies (especially if they’re witty). 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2004, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-stringcheese-work/241942/7 "2004-04-25T23:46:52Z")
It tastes different because in string form, there is much more surface area available to the taste buds, rather than jus taking a bite. Therefore it seems more salty and thus flavorful, as more taste receptors are stimulated more quickly. At least that’s the explanation I’ve heard, and it matches what I know of physiology. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2004, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-stringcheese-work/241942/8 "2004-04-26T05:15:54Z")
The next obvious question: Why is commercial-grade mozzeralla “stringable”? **Duck Duck Goose** implies that way the cheese is made is important: " If you extrude it during the cheesemaking process, or stretch it and spin it, then it gets stringy". Can someone please elaborate why/how the manufacturing creates “strings”? Are other cheeses made the same way “stringy” ?