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The Molecular Secrets of Cream Cheese

Roland Piquepaille writes "The June issue of Wired Magazine carries a story about one of the two university labs in the U.S. dedicated to cream cheese research. This one is -- where else? -- in Madison, Wisconsin, where researchers are exploring the molecular mysteries of cream cheese. You may not know, but this cheese is tricky to produce because the acid-secreting bacteria used to coagulate the milk need to be killed at the right time. The researchers are now writing a guidebook about the secrets of cream cheese, a book which will be available to anyone, in a process similar to the open source movement for software. For more information, please read the entertaining article of Wired magazine, 'Schmear Campaign' or this summary to discover little-known facts about cream cheese."

211 comments

  1. Woland!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Long time, no see. Thought it was too good to last.

  2. Wonderful by kimvette · · Score: 3, Funny

    "The work is funded by federal grants," (snip other sources of funding, yes I know it's not ALL tax funded)

    I am so glad that tax dollars extorted from me are being spent on such important projects. Thanks Uncle Sam!

    --
    The Christian Right is Neither (Christian nor right). See: Matthew 23, Matthew 25, Ezekiel 16:48-50
    1. Re:Wonderful by Duhavid · · Score: 1, Troll

      Move elsewhere?

      --
      emt 377 emt 4
    2. Re:Wonderful by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Don't feel bad about that; at least you may get better tasting cheese out of it.

      What you won't get anything out of is my Ph.D thesis in experimental quantum physics which you also helped pay for. And I'm not even American. Yay DARPA!

    3. Re:Wonderful by thc69 · · Score: 5, Funny

      Perhaps they will investigate the phenomena whereby cream cheese is the exact opposite of expresso. I once tried an expresso, about ten years ago, at Barnes & Noble. Immediately, I set out on a mission to locate some cream cheese. Tragically, I went cream-cheese-less...but I really could have eaten a whole package of it, and it would have made my mouth feel much better.

      --
      Procrastination -- because good things come to those who wait.
    4. Re:Wonderful by gardyloo · · Score: 1

      Brilliant. I wish I hadn't used up all my mod points about three hours ago.

    5. Re:Wonderful by kfg · · Score: 5, Funny

      Obviously they either need to cut funding for this project, or balance it by adding funding for a project to investigate the molecular secrets of lox.

      We cannot have a cream cheese/lox molecular secrets gap at taxpayer expense.

      KFG

    6. Re:Wonderful by MustardMan · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Yeah, because, you know, no one ever discovered anything truly revolutionary to the scientific world while working on "mundane" things.

      What sets us apart from the apes is our drive to seek knowledge purely for the sake of knowing it. What sets the US apart from many other nations is our willingness to fund science in all its forms, whether or not a given research projects produces something whose value can be measured in dollars and cents.

    7. Re:Wonderful by Waffle+Iron · · Score: 1
      In this case it may be well spent. Cream cheese is one of few the commodity grocery items that I've found where the store brands have quality levels that are too erratic to buy (sometimes ok, more often like shiny playdough), so I have to stick with the much more expensive Kraft Philadelphia brand. If this research yields practical advances that make it into the hands of the generic cream cheese manufacturers, I would stand to save much more cash than the fraction of a cent of my taxes that went to fund this.

      In reality, though, they'll probably just keep cranking out the playdough anyway, so the research money probably did go to waste after all.

    8. Re:Wonderful by pHatidic · · Score: 4, Funny

      Surely the government would not fund such a caper.

    9. Re:Wonderful by Evro · · Score: 1

      Ahh, if only expresso existed.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Espresso

      --
      rooooar
    10. Re:Wonderful by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ahh, if only expresso existed.

      You've obviously never played Donkey Kong Country...

    11. Re:Wonderful by jnik · · Score: 1
      What sets us apart from the apes
      Not throwing shit would be high on my list.

      (Disclaimer: I eat because of taxpayer-funded basic science research, and firmly believe in ensuring that science keeps getting done in this country. The phrase that tends to crop up with NASA-supported folk is "not eating our seed corn." Still, I realize that indoor plumbing probably impacts more people's lives than my research.)

    12. Re:Wonderful by NMerriam · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I am so glad that tax dollars extorted from me are being spent on such important projects. Thanks Uncle Sam!

      Yeah, WTF? When has learning anything about organic chemistry prove useful?

      --
      Recursive: Adj. See Recursive.
    13. Re:Wonderful by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      RTFW. It says "expresso" is a colloquial French term for espresso. (It also says a lot more stuff that I really didn't need to know.)

    14. Re:Wonderful by Evro · · Score: 0

      Funny, I thought the post was written in English...

      (Yes I am a dick.)

      --
      rooooar
    15. Re:Wonderful by 3ryon · · Score: 1, Insightful

      What sets us apart from the apes is our drive to seek knowledge purely for the sake of knowing it. What sets the US apart from many other nations is our [Historical] willingness to fund science in all its forms, whether or not a given research projects produces something whose value can be measured in dollars and cents.

      Just had to correct that little typo.

    16. Re:Wonderful by corbettw · · Score: 1

      What sets us apart from the apes is our drive to seek knowledge purely for the sake of knowing it.

      I think Dr. Cornelius would take exception to that remark!

      --
      God invented whiskey so the Irish would not rule the world.
    17. Re:Wonderful by MustardMan · · Score: 1

      I stand corrected.

    18. Re:Wonderful by kfg · · Score: 1

      What sets the US apart from many other nations is our willingness to fund science in all its forms, whether or not a given research projects produces something whose value can be measured in dollars and cents.

      http://www.improb.com/ig/ig-pastwinners.html#ig200 2

      I'm rather partial to the improved method for estimating the surface area of Indian elephants at Kerala Agricultural University, India myself, but the belly button lint study at the University of Sydney is also good for a chuckle.

      The monitoring of the brains of locusts watching Star Wars, Newcastle University, England, is something I'll have to make time to look into, as well as the whole Exploding Trousers thingy, Massey University, New Zealand.

      Not really sure about the Literature Prize to Nigerian 419 scammers, but that's off the science research topic anyway.

      KFG

    19. Re:Wonderful by unknownideal · · Score: 1

      Incorrect. It's our ability to seek knowledge that sets us apart from the apes. Our motivations--to survive and further our existence--we actually share with the apes, and all other living things as well.

      To seek knowledge purely for it's own sake is to take it out of context. Knowledge has no purpose outside the realm of living entities that make use of it in the course of living. Knowledge couldn't even exist without something to know it.

      And while it's possible to stumble upon gainful knowledge in the course of arbitrary studies "for the sake of studying," one is far more likely to attain useful information by studing a specific problem and seeking a solution to it.

    20. Re:Wonderful by Panaflex · · Score: 1

      Everyone knows that Expresso is a Portuguise newspaper!

      --
      I said no... but I missed and it came out yes.
    21. Re:Wonderful by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      >What sets the US apart from many other nations is our willingness to fund science in all its forms, whether or not a given research
      >projects produces something whose value can be measured in dollars and cents.

      You've obvously never tried to get a government grant.

    22. Re:Wonderful by talkingpaperclip · · Score: 3, Funny

      "Yeah, WTF? When has learning anything about organic chemistry prove useful?"

      Other than the typo, that's exactly what I said to my parents after I failed Organic Chemistry last semester.

    23. Re:Wonderful by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think this is more biology than chemistry.

    24. Re:Wonderful by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ahhh.... no. That is would be what is referred to as BULLSHIT!!! All scientific research in the US is about either looking for things which have monetary value or gaining technological superiority over other countries. Sure they research mundane things which may not have a forseeable monetary value but they stil reserach it just in case.

    25. Re:Wonderful by thc69 · · Score: 1

      Good point. I've always been confused about it, because it seems that (at least locally), it is not pronounced the way it's spelled. I couldn't remember if it's pronounced "espresso" and spelled "expresso", or if it's pronounced "expresso" and spelled "espresso". To further complicate matters, I'm pretty lazy, and I was tired.

      Maybe if I had an espresso, I would have had the energy to google it first...but then I'd have needed a bunch of cream cheese.

      I can't imagine what an espresso and a bunch of cream cheese would do to me just before bedtime -- if I managed to fall asleep, would I have dreamed that The Gunfight At The OK Corral was happening in my stomach?

      --
      Procrastination -- because good things come to those who wait.
    26. Re:Wonderful by caseydk · · Score: 1

      I am so glad that tax dollars extorted from me are being spent on such important projects. Thanks Uncle Sam!

      I guess I missed the announcement where they figured out the important things like a cure for [choose N: AIDS, breast cancer, heart disease, pancreatic cancer, SIDS...].

      Instead of pork barrel, we need a cream cheese brick.

    27. Re:Wonderful by Buddy+the+WIld+Geek · · Score: 1

      Food chemistry is unimportant???
      Where are your priorities?

    28. Re:Wonderful by Millenniumman · · Score: 1

      Our willingness? You mean the willingness of politicians to spend other people's money, that was forcefully taken from them, on research? How generous...

      --
      Stupidity is like nuclear power, it can be used for good or evil. And you don't want to get any on you.
    29. Re:Wonderful by Millenniumman · · Score: 1

      If people wanted to donate the money, that's fine. But forcing them to donate, when it is not necessary to preserve their rights, is not.

      --
      Stupidity is like nuclear power, it can be used for good or evil. And you don't want to get any on you.
    30. Re:Wonderful by kimvette · · Score: 1

      What sets us apart from the apes is millions of nucleotides ;)

      --
      The Christian Right is Neither (Christian nor right). See: Matthew 23, Matthew 25, Ezekiel 16:48-50
    31. Re:Wonderful by kimvette · · Score: 1

      Let private industry fund the research then. Why should tax dollars be spent on this crap? Let cream cheese manufacturers who want to beat Kraft pool resources to fund it and cross-license any "proprietary techniques" to each other.

      I'm glad that at least the info will be public for all citizens to access, that's how ALL taxpayer-funded projects SHOULD be, whether it's a design for a new screw or nut to bleeding-edge aerospace technology. If US citizens were forced to spend money on something, it belongs to the people and therefore all citizens should have equal access to the information - ALL of it. Every penny spent ought to be accounted for and ALL records and documentation ought to be released for scrutiny by citizens. I intended the original post to be half-joking and half-serious.

      If tax dollars HAVE to go into developing cream cheese manufacturing techniques, why not come up with a way to make it less unhealthy to eat while you're at it?

      --
      The Christian Right is Neither (Christian nor right). See: Matthew 23, Matthew 25, Ezekiel 16:48-50
    32. Re:Wonderful by MustardMan · · Score: 1

      No one is holding a gun to your head and "forcing" you to stay in the US. If you want to go somewhere where research isn't important and tax dollars don't fund it, be my guest. Might I suggest any one of the third world nations? Maybe there you can see what it's like to be GENUINELY forced to do something, when soldiers with guns steal the food that was given to you by the big bad evil US government.

      Oh wait, that food was funded by money stolen from the American taxpayers. Oh woe is me, I'm a poor fat America who has my wages stolen away while I throw out my leftover food because I can just buy some more at the grocery store. Big bad government is taking all my money :(

    33. Re:Wonderful by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      The first sentence of the US Constitution talks about preserving rights, but it also explicitly states a goal is to "promote the general welfare" of the people. So preserving rights is not the only thing the government is supposed to spend money on. Sorry to burst your bubble.

      And people have been "forced to donate money" through taxation in every single civilization that formed in the past 5,000 years now, and most of that money has gone to fund things that the taxpayers wouldn't have voluntarily paid for. That's life in the real world. Get over it.

    34. Re:Wonderful by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He's one of those people who either doesn't get much pleasure from eating, and/or doesn't care where his food comes from.

    35. Re:Wonderful by RobertLTux · · Score: 1

      how should i say this..... Without organic chemistry you would not be PERIOD Okay so maybe you personally would not need to know how to make good cream cheese but one would hope that the guy that put the "cream cheese" in that little tub did.

      --
      Any person using FTFY or editing my postings agrees to a US$50.00 charge
    36. Re:Wonderful by tarpy · · Score: 1

      Wow, that's not the point and you know it.

      There is a difference between a society choosing, through its government, to fund "Big Science" projects, and a society being forced, through the collection of taxes to fund research into something as mundane as how to increase the "spreadability" of a tasty dairy product.

      Society shouldn't fund every Tom, Dick, and Harry's research grant because it's "science." There should be some relationship between the need for public funds and the common weal. Or is that concept too Objectivist for you?

    37. Re:Wonderful by FLEB · · Score: 1

      I can't imagine what an espresso and a bunch of cream cheese would do to me just before bedtime

      If your "opposites" theory is correct, nothing (if adequately and proportionately mixed).

      --
      Information wants to be free.
      Entertainment wants to be paid.
      You just want to be cheap.
    38. Re:Wonderful by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      aimster > evro

  3. suck by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    publishing a paper is now 'open source' because anyone can get it? this site has more sheep then any i've visited.

    1. Re:suck by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I agree, in the academic world allowing results and findings to be shared with anyone who wishes to see them isn't a new thing, and definitely not a movement being birthed along with the creative commons license or any such nonsense. Does that reasoning make graffiti on subway cars open source as well?

  4. Meh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Slow news day, eh?

    1. Re:Meh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > Slow news day, eh?

      Slashdot: "News for Nerds. Stuff that nobody gives a flying fsck about."

  5. the article was stupid enough in WIRED by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's even stupider in Slashdot.

  6. Strangely, by venicebeach · · Score: 4, Funny

    Strangely, there are not many academical papers about cream cheese.

    Yeah. Truly bizarre.

    1. Re:Strangely, by mnemonic_ · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Hyperbole aside, that sentence raises an excellent point. Most likely he was referring to Thomas Jefferson's idea of an "academical village". Therein lies the strangeness. Who would have guessed that nearly 2 centuries later, there are no academical village papers on cream cheese? "Bizarre" is an understatement.

    2. Re:Strangely, by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Can I buy some pot from you, professor Jennings?

    3. Re:Strangely, by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      >Strangely, there are not many academical papers about cream cheese.

      Pubmed brings up 45 hits on "Cream cheese".
      Most relevant is probably "Characterization of Particles in Cream Cheese" (M. R. Sainani, H. K. Vyas and P. S. Tong - J. Dairy Sci. 87:2854-2863).

    4. Re:Strangely, by hobo+sapiens · · Score: 1

      Cheddar watch out, the benefits out whey the costs of this study. If you gruyere knowledge about things, you'd let science continue un-feta'd.

      Ba dum bum

      I'll be here all week. Tip your waitresses!

      --
      blah blah blah
  7. What makes it so special? by Metaleks · · Score: 0

    So what? It's bacteria needs to die at a certain time to give it that new molecular structure or whatever... Is the taste even any better? *Sigh* Research money shouldn't be wasted like this. Pretty pointless.

  8. Re:Science gone amuck again by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Accounting for inflation, organic milk costs the same as it did 20 years ago. Regular (GMO) milk is cheaper. So you can be cheap or you can be organic. Choice is good.

  9. Not that hard? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If they really want to know they should just ask my ex-gf. She made it once, and the consistency was spot-on. At least it looked like cream cheese, anyway.

    1. Re:Not that hard? by trewornan · · Score: 0, Troll

      I hear yoghurt is good for yeast infections.

    2. Re:Not that hard? by lightyear4 · · Score: 2

      Though indeed helpful to restore normal bacterial populations for those with yeast infections, yoghurt is good all around to keep you healthy. The nutrients yoghurt contains -- while beneficial -- are actually not the most important part. Most beneficial are in fact the live cultures found in many yoghurts. I.E: Just finished off a prescription of antibiotics, did you? Well, the odds are very good that it negatively impacted the microorganisms in your GI tract - to speed your recovery by restoring a natural balance, enjoy your yoghurt.

      And that is why even the funding of cheese research might have a tangentally impact upon you.

  10. Nondairy cheeses a bigger challenge by mcostas · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The real need for research remains nondairy cheese. While there are now excellent vegan alternatives for most everything, milk, ice cream, hot dogs, etc., cheese is really tough to get right. Even most soy cheeses contain casein, a milk protein. Tofutti does make an amazing nondairy cream cheese, but solid, meltable nondairy cheese remains very elusive.

    1. Re:Nondairy cheeses a bigger challenge by 0racle · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      Grow a backbone and eat some real cheese. Not tofu crap, not whoknowswhyitscream cheese crap.

      And eat that damn burger. There's kids starving in Japan damnit and you're going to turn your nose up at an American delicacy. For shame.

      --
      "I use a Mac because I'm just better than you are."
    2. Re:Nondairy cheeses a bigger challenge by mcostas · · Score: 1

      Wow. Just wow.

    3. Re:Nondairy cheeses a bigger challenge by vought · · Score: 2, Funny

      The real need for research remains nondairy cheese. While there are now excellent vegan alternatives for most everything, milk, ice cream, hot dogs, etc., cheese is really tough to get right.

      I knew Steve Jobs was reading Slashdot, but I didn't realize he was posting!

      Hi, Mr. Jobs!

    4. Re:Nondairy cheeses a bigger challenge by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Typical humourless twit.

    5. Re:Nondairy cheeses a bigger challenge by Skywings · · Score: 1

      This won't just benefit vegetarians but also for those of us who are lactose intolerant. Without a doubt there are some of us(including me) that have severe allergies to dairy product and there is always the stigma of refusing something as simple as a slice of pizza at a party. I have a friend who is gluten intolerant and suffer the same problem of missing out on so much of life. I for one would like to see a non dairy cheese especially one that would melt. If the government doesn't spend money on such research, I doubt anyone else would. I suspect the market simply would not be big enough it to warrant the kind or research needed. Still, it would be nice to see the day when I can enjoy a pizza with out spending a couple of hours on the toilet afterwards.

    6. Re:Nondairy cheeses a bigger challenge by operagost · · Score: 2, Funny
      Vegan: A person who decides he hates meat, and responds by spending the rest of his days trying to recreate meat with vile vegetable-protein based substitutes.

      Why not just eat your raw carrots and celery, and forget about the fake meat?

      --

      Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
    7. Re:Nondairy cheeses a bigger challenge by warkda+rrior · · Score: 1

      If you guys hate milk so much, why do you insist on creating nondairy cheese? Come up with your own derivative food, stop copying existing stuff.

      --
      You need to install an RTFM interface.
    8. Re:Nondairy cheeses a bigger challenge by drsquare · · Score: 1

      Why is there a need for vegan cheese? That's like a hardcore carnivore trying to make brocolli out of bacon.

    9. Re:Nondairy cheeses a bigger challenge by Valdrax · · Score: 2, Interesting

      While there are now excellent vegan alternatives for most everything, milk, ice cream, hot dogs, etc., cheese is really tough to get right.

      I'll grant you ice cream. That's pretty good. I'll even grant you the milk substitutes as they can be good drinks in their own right (even if they taste nothing like milk), but I have never had a vegan hot dog that I could swallow the second bite of. Smart Dogs, Quorn Dogs, etc. are all just utterly horrible tasting.

      *sigh* I long for a vegetarian substitute for bacon too so that I can have my favorite food without all the saturated fat. Cheese, however, there's never going to be a substitute for the real thing. Never. Anyone who enjoys cheeses and who seeks out cheeses that you don't find in the normal dairy section like Dubliner, Double Glouchester, Asagio Fresco (oh man), good Gouda, etc. knows that making a substitute for Kraft slices isn't the same as making a substitute for real cheese.

      I'm a cheese connoisseur, so I don't have very high hopes for vegan cheese especially after the track record with vegans loving the so-called meat substitutes. If your standards are that low for making substitutes for things you hate, you aren't going to please the people who actually like those products. Just my two cents.

      --
      If it's for-profit but free, you're not the customer -- you're the product (e.g., the Slashdot Beta's "audience").
    10. Re:Nondairy cheeses a bigger challenge by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > I'm a cheese connoisseur, so I don't have very high hopes for vegan cheese

      Two words: synthetic milk. That's where to put your money!

    11. Re:Nondairy cheeses a bigger challenge by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They're easily identified by their catchphrase usage.

    12. Re:Nondairy cheeses a bigger challenge by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wow. Just wow.

      Oh yeah, biting into a thick, juicy burger after all these years is pretty amazing, isn't it? I hope you got bacon on yours!

    13. Re:Nondairy cheeses a bigger challenge by Thomas+Shaddack · · Score: 1

      Just wait for when vegans find out that plants have feelings too.

  11. Please don't RTFA! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny
    For more information, please read the entertaining article of Wired magazine, "Schmear Campaign" or this summary to discover little-known facts about cream cheese.

    I read them, but I'd like to request that no one else read them. If we all read the article then the "little-known facts" become well-known, and therefore less valuable.

    Thanks.
    1. Re:Please don't RTFA! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You must be new here. Don't worry, nobody reads the articles.

  12. Now: Badger Ice Cream, Next: Badger Cream Cheese by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Sweet, I guess food service will be serving a slightly larger variety of food now, all sporting our school mascot. Let's just hope that we have a better football season this year....

  13. Open Source Recipes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Really have a recipe you want to throw into public domain? Try the "list of recipes." In the mean time, between submitting your own special dishes and mutating your favorit food groups, you can tackle world hunger one soufflé at a time- as long as you add cream cheese. (can you add cream cheese in a soufflé? Let's find out...)

  14. Re:Science gone amuck again by czarangelus · · Score: 3, Informative

    You're making the assumption that wages have kept pace with inflation. They haven't.

    --
    When a true genius appears, you can know him by this sign: that all the dunces are in a confederacy against him.
  15. Re:Science gone amuck again by Tx · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Our lifespans are longer than they have ever been in the first world, thanks largely to modern science-based medicine. For most of those "thousands of years" you talk about, people had lifespans of around thirty years. So I think you should show some respect for science, there is no reason to think science can't improve on food, indeed there's every reason to believe it can. And there's definitely no reason to thing that the status quo of the last few millenia is so good that it shouldn't be changed.

    --
    Oh no... it's the future.
  16. Open Source Cream Cheese, yeah Cheese is the word. by layer3switch · · Score: 4, Funny

    We have Open Source Cream Cheese now? Oh sweet lord of mercy! All we need is Open Source Bagel and Open Source Toaster. Oh wait, we already have NetBSD.

    --
    "Don't let fools fool you. They are the clever ones."
  17. if it makes the food supply cheaper/more reliable by rsilvergun · · Score: 1

    what are you complaining about. Now if you really wanna see tax dollars pissed away, there's a US senetor who's secured $500 million to restore and promote a Civil War era submarine sunk at the bottom of a lake. Too lazy to look it up right now, but fark had the article a while back. There was no one bill he got the funding in either, it's all nice and well hidden.

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
  18. Screw you... by Cyno01 · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Cream Chese is delicious.

    --
    "Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."
  19. Re:Science gone amuck again by Waffle+Iron · · Score: 4, Insightful
    20 years ago everything was organic

    Not even close. The use of synthetic pesticides disqualifies an item from being organic. Some of the pesticides that they were spraying on your food 20 years ago are now banned because they were found to be unsafe.

    They'll probably end up banning some of the current genetic modifications if and when they find problems with it, but that doesn't mean that 20th century agriculture was especially safe. (And prior to the 20th century, there were major health risks in the food supply from natural causes like bacterial contamination. There has never been a safe food utopia.)

  20. Re:Science gone amuck again by whovian · · Score: 1

    The world has done very well without scientists mucking up our food sources. How many thousands of years have people lived off what the earth grows?

    I now see in my grocery store "organic milk", it is priced twice as expensive as the gallon of regular milk. The same thing is in produce, they have organic vegitables. What is this? 20 years ago everything was organic, now only the rich can get normal food. The rest of us must eat crap that has been genetically modified.


    Ra-men, brother. "Food" for the masses is based on ingredients that favor the companies' profit margins ONLY (think white flour for lengthened shelf life, corn syrup for avoiding the high cost of cane sugar due to tariffs, partially hydrogenated oils for convenience). We're lucky to have the ingredient lists we do have, as the food industry has successfully lobbied the government to relax the requirements in order to make it more profitable to sell product. It was a blow to the standards previously put in place by the organic food movement.

    Dammit. Makes me want to live off a farm despite the work.

    --
    To-do List: Receive telemarketing call during a tornado warning. Check.
  21. I love statistics by r_jensen11 · · Score: 2, Funny

    How do you value currency, though? Look at the history of gold. The the number of dollars that it cost for gold in 1980 was more than it is today, and that's not taking into effect the time value of money. On Tuesday, September 23, 1980, gold's value was $711.00, valued at Sept 23, 1980 USD. On Thursday, June 01, 2006, gold's value was $625.00 , valued at June 01, 2006 USD. So if I had only gold, and milk cost the same in USD then as it does now, it only costs me 87.9% of what it used to. Factoring in the time value of money, it costs me an insignificant fraction of the original value.

    Moral of the story: statistics are fun!

  22. Re:Science gone amuck again by redneckHippe · · Score: 1

    Soylent Green's Organic.
    R.H.

    --
    It'll quit hurtin' once the pain stops.
  23. Cream Cheese, eh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    It's neither a solid or a liquid, so it must be... a soquid.

    These labs would do well to start investigating the properties of the mysterious fpoon.

    1. Re:Cream Cheese, eh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And here I'd have figured that'd be a "liqlid".

  24. Re:Science gone amuck again by CRCulver · · Score: 2, Informative

    Our lifespans are longer than they have ever been in the first world, thanks largely to modern science-based medicine. For most of those "thousands of years" you talk about, people had lifespans of around thirty years.

    Wrong, you are perpetuating a particularly obnoxious urban myth that comes from a misinterpretation of mortality rate statistics. The mortality rate may have made for an average of thirty years, but that is because infant mortality was very high. If you survived childhood, then you had a good shot at making it to 70, then as now. Ancient literature, such as the Bible and Greek stories, says that "two-score-and-ten" was the average span of days for an adult male, and in poor Eastern European countries before the advent of modern medicine there were never a lack of old people. However, now in the U.S. Americans face the prospect of earlier death than people in comparatively worse-off countries, because of the heart disease stemming from our unhealthy modern diet, as well as the possibility of cancer from industrial methods.

  25. Re:Science gone amuck again by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Dammit. Makes me want to live off a farm despite the work.

    As a matter of fact, I'm just now reading Eric Brende's Better Off , where the author recounts his days living a year without electricity in an Amish village after graduating from MIT (he stopped only after he found that his wife was allergic to horses). One of Brende's major points is that farm labour is really not as mind-numbing and backbreaking as it seems. Working a farm not only exercises the mind in requiring one to come up with clever technical solutions, it also creates a social environment where time just flies by since one is always talking with the many other hands that make work light. It sure seems to beat sitting alone in a cubical all day.

  26. Obligatory Wallace and Gromit reference by rockandrolldoctor · · Score: 1

    "Cheeeeese Gromit!"

  27. Make your own mascarpone! by Consul · · Score: 3, Informative

    I think mascarpone is better tasting cheese than basic cream cheese. Here's how you make your own.

    Heat one quart of light cream (I mix two cups of whipping cream with two cups of whole milk) in a double-boiler to 180 degrees F. After five minutes, pour in two tablespoons of freshly-squeezed lemon juice. Lit it sit at 180F for 30 minutes. Take off the heat, and let it cool, covered, in the refrigerator overnight.

    The next day, arrange a sterilized (by boiling) teatowel over another container, and pour the curds and whey into it. Tie up the towel, and suspend it using a skewer over a tall container, like a pitcher. Let it sit in the fridge for 24 hours, dripping away.

    The next day, the teatowel will contain yummy mascarpone cheese! Use within about a week to ten days of making it.

    I've done this several of times, with excellent results.

    --

    -----

    "You spilled my egg... I needed that egg."

    1. Re:Make your own mascarpone! by Apraxhren · · Score: 1

      First open source cream cheese and now open source mascarpone! Thank the OSS god's!

    2. Re:Make your own mascarpone! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This is the same way many mexican cheeses are made such as queso fresca. very good when made with the right milk (raw milk) which is very hard to get in the US

    3. Re:Make your own mascarpone! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      that's not mascarpone, it's ricotta.

    4. Re:Make your own mascarpone! by Outshined · · Score: 1

      Uh wouldn't that recipe just produce casein? Surely you need to add a culture to make it a cheese.

    5. Re:Make your own mascarpone! by mrjb · · Score: 3, Informative

      I'm sorry to inform you that you were misinformed. The recipe he submitted is in fact for mascarpone.

      Ricotta is italian for "recooked". Ricotta cheese is made by recooking the leftover whey of a previous batch of cheese, helping the remaining milk protein in there to clog together. This recooking, as you may notice, does not happen in the submitted recipe.

      This is one of the wonderful things about cheese: although the ingredients and basic procedure are mostly the same, variations in the preparation method lead to dramatically different cheeses.

      --
      Visit http://ringbreak.dnd.utwente.nl/~mrjb/growingbettersoftware to download your free copy of the book
    6. Re:Make your own mascarpone! by eluusive · · Score: 1

      It's called air. Or did you think that wine came about due to spontaneous generation?

    7. Re:Make your own mascarpone! by AngryNick · · Score: 2, Informative
      variations in the preparation method lead to dramatically different cheeses.

      For example, change a few steps and you have Panir, a Persian cheese that tastes and looks a bit like fetta. That recipe calls for you to use regular milk, lime juice, retain the whey, and store the resulting compressed churd block back in the whey with a little salt.

    8. Re:Make your own mascarpone! by Outshined · · Score: 1

      No but I thought it would be pretty random if it cultured correctly. The heat would kill all the lactobacilli and I thought spoilage bacteria might dominate after that. I've never made it though so I might give it a go.

    9. Re:Make your own mascarpone! by Consul · · Score: 1

      Indeed. Still, what I submitted isn't the technically true mascarpone recipe. It's just one that works well with readily-available ingredients. You're supposed to use 1/4 teaspoon of pure tartaric acid dissolved in 1/4 water for the acid, not lemon juice. The juice works really well, though, and lends a slight flavor to the finished cheese that I like.

      --

      -----

      "You spilled my egg... I needed that egg."

    10. Re:Make your own mascarpone! by Consul · · Score: 1

      Okay, cheese making 101.

      Acids and heat are what coagulate protein. Coagulated proteins are what make cheese. When you use a culture, you are introducing bacteria to the milk that convert sugars to acids, along with dozens or hundreds of other compounds, which will then coagulate the proteins, along with cooking the milk. Rennet, another important cheese-making ingredient, is an enzyme that makes the curds larger and harder, thus making it easier to get more whey out of the way.

      The bacterial culture you use determines what of the many flavor compounds you end up with, which is in large part why there are so many different cheeses out there (texture has a lot to do with it, too, and that gets into pressing and such).

      With mascarpone and cottage cheese, you introduce an acid straight into the hot milk, which short-circuits the entire bacterial culture step described above. No rennet means you get small, soft curds which creates a soft, creamy texture.

      Want to make a basic cottage cheese?

      1 gallon 2% milk (organic would be good)
      1/2 cup distilled vinegar
      1 tsp salt

      Heat the milk up to about 190 Degrees F. Turn off the heat, and add the vinegar, then allow the milk to cool. After cooling, pour it into a mesh strainer to get rid of the whey. Put the curds into a bowl and stir in the salt.

      Source: http://schmidling.netfirms.com/making.htm

      --

      -----

      "You spilled my egg... I needed that egg."

    11. Re:Make your own mascarpone! by Outshined · · Score: 1

      Okay, so really it is just casein. Thanks for the info.

    12. Re:Make your own mascarpone! by Consul · · Score: 1

      You're not producing casein, you're coagulating it. Important distinction, there. The casein is already in the milk. And again, it's done with acid. Whether that acid is introduced directly, or created via microbes, is just a matter of implementation detail.

      --

      -----

      "You spilled my egg... I needed that egg."

    13. Re:Make your own mascarpone! by chawly · · Score: 1

      "Use within about a week to ten days of making it." Wha'for ?

      --
      How many beans make five, anyhow ? ... Charles Walmsley
    14. Re:Make your own mascarpone! by Consul · · Score: 1

      Fresh cheeses don't have the preservative properties of aged cheeses. This particular mascarpone will spoil if left too long.

      --

      -----

      "You spilled my egg... I needed that egg."

    15. Re:Make your own mascarpone! by chawly · · Score: 1

      So now I know. Thanks

      --
      How many beans make five, anyhow ? ... Charles Walmsley
  28. As a former Wisconsonite... by daeg · · Score: 5, Interesting

    As a former resident of Wisconsin, cheese is big business. Huge, in fact. Government grants for cheese and other dairy research are nothing new to the University of Wisconsin. Sure, it might appear like a drain on money, but by doing the research in a public setting it benefits all dairy producers whereas private research only benefits the company or co-op sponsoring it. To justify it all you have to do is imagine the tax benefits of even a few percentage points of additional dairy production.

    Besides, I back all agricultural research. Food will become the next major world commodity (aside from fuel). It's easy to make potable water, but trying to compensate year after year of lackluster arable ground is foolish. The United States is one, if not the, top contender for arable land and our rank will only increase as the floodplains of the Asian countries are flooded with ocean water with rising sea levels. Seven billion people have to eat somehow.

    1. Re:As a former Wisconsonite... by larry+bagina · · Score: 1
      To justify it all you have to do is imagine the tax benefits of even a few percentage points of additional dairy production.

      Considering how much the agriculture business is heavily subsidized by the government already (set asides, minimum prices, etc), increasing production will push down market prices and increase government subsidies. Not exactly a tax benefit.

      --
      Do you even lift?

      These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.

    2. Re:As a former Wisconsonite... by biobogonics · · Score: 1

      As a former resident of Wisconsin, cheese is big business. Huge, in fact. Government grants for cheese and other dairy research are nothing new to the University of Wisconsin. Sure, it might appear like a drain on money, but by doing the research in a public setting it benefits all dairy producers whereas private research only benefits the company or co-op sponsoring it. To justify it all you have to do is imagine the tax benefits of even a few percentage points of additional dairy production.

      Besides, I back all agricultural research. ....


      Does any one remember toxic shock syndrome? Identification and characterization of the bacteria responsible for the disease was done in Wisconsin. Studies of the toxin involved were done by researchers in food science. Agricultural research clearly saved lives in this case. [Go Bucky!]

    3. Re:As a former Wisconsonite... by zbuffered · · Score: 1
      Food will become the next major world commodity (aside from fuel). It's easy to make potable water, but trying to compensate year after year of lackluster arable ground is foolish. The United States is one, if not the, top contender for arable land and our rank will only increase as the floodplains of the Asian countries are flooded with ocean water with rising sea levels. Seven billion people have to eat somehow.
      Can you cite others who believe this as well? I've not heard this idea before, but now I'm interested in hearing more.
      --
      Synergy is your friend
  29. Re:Science gone amuck again by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    > I don't want science genetically engineering my food, I don't want them making
    > meals that can be served 7 years later. I don't want the cancer or other diseases
    > that come with it.

    Well, this may be true generally, but as we're talking about cheese, humans have been (unknowingly for quite a while) engineering bacteria to process milk into cheese, and yes, some cheese could actually be served 7 years later compared with milk that spoils after a couple of days ;-p

  30. Re:Science gone amuck again by thebigmacd · · Score: 1

    It's actually three-score-and-ten. Two-score-and-ten is only 50.

  31. Re:Open Source Cream Cheese, yeah Cheese is the wo by pilgrim23 · · Score: 1

    Blessed are the Cheese Makers...

    or, Honk if you love Cheeses!

    --
    - Minutus cantorum, minutus balorum, minutus carborata descendum pantorum.
  32. Re:Science gone amuck again by vijayiyer · · Score: 3, Funny

    Do you wish that Louis Pasteur didn't invent the pasteurization process too? Or are only current scientific advancements "mucking up" our food sources?

  33. Re:Science gone amuck again by cgenman · · Score: 1

    I now see in my grocery store "organic milk", it is priced twice as expensive as the gallon of regular milk. The same thing is in produce, they have organic vegitables. What is this? 20 years ago everything was organic, now only the rich can get normal food. The rest of us must eat crap that has been genetically modified.

    You're probably thinking about 120 years ago, and back then only the rich could get any food. Remember, grapes used to be an expensive luxury of the wealthy.

    20 years ago was 1986, and food was crap back then too. In that time, milk went from about 2.20 per gallon, to 2.50 in 2006. Adjusted for inflation, that 2.20 rounds up to about 4 dollars. 4 dollars will get you healthy organic milk made from vegetarian cows without growth hormones or superdoses of antibiotics, something that couldn't be said about the 1986 milk. If I remember correctly the most popular food sources in 1986 were Pepsi, McDonalds, and Pop Rocks.

    The average quality of food people buy is still crap, but if you're willing to spend the same proportion of your budget on food now as you did a few years ago, you get much, much better food.

  34. Re:Science gone amuck again by spencerogden · · Score: 1

    Certainly Life expectancy are "exagerated" if you don't count declines in infant mortality as improvements. Two things to consider:

    1. Nutrition plays a huge roll in infant and child health. I would suspect that along with medicine, the availability of cheap, nutritious food has helped to lower child death rates.

    2. Even if you only look at Life Expectance at age 65, the US has been continuously improving for the last 100 years, and certainly has been higher than the four score and ten that you mention. any numbers showing us being worse of recently?

    There are certainly countries with better life expectancy numbers than us, I'll give you that.

  35. Madison Wisconsin by ptelligence · · Score: 4, Funny
    This one is -- where else? -- in Madison, Wisconsin

    and the other one is in -- let me guess -- Philadelphia?

  36. Re:Science gone amuck again by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    With the rate of people dying of cancer actually decreasing, your claim that people dieing of cancer seems dubious.

  37. Combing food and Interesting science by Cartack · · Score: 2, Funny

    Win win for all the cubbby geeks out there. Now all we need is a breakdown of the chemical structure of the polymer used in real doll construction.


    http://nakedip.com/ -- revolutionary web 2.0 site

  38. Slashdot hacked by Frightening · · Score: 1

    /* Rubs eyes, looks at url, rubs eyes again..

    Yes I am reading about cream cheese recipes. On slashdot. Why do you ask?

    1. Re:Slashdot hacked by Eideewt · · Score: 1

      Your shock mirrors my own, but now that I think about it I do like cheese.

    2. Re:Slashdot hacked by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hemos has a thing for (dick) cheese.

    3. Re:Slashdot hacked by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Roland Piquepaille rides again....

  39. Re:Science gone amuck again by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What relaxed requirements are you talking about as far as what you listed? Usually, something has to actually has to be linked to killing a bunch of people for it to be totally banned, not the other way around. Foods like corn syrup has been regarded to be generally safe by the FDA. That does not mean it is the best stuff for everyone to eat, however. Why can't the consumer decide what is good or bad for themselves? How much healthier is a bottle of organic milk if it has become infected with some bacterial infection that a regular bottle of milk from a cow that was given medication to prevent such outbreaks? This stuff can go both ways.

  40. Does this answer Frank Zappa's question? by onemorechip · · Score: 1

    "Suzy Creamcheese, honey, what's got into you?

    --
    But, I wanted socialized health insurance!
  41. Re:Science gone amuck again by value_added · · Score: 2

    Do you wish that Louis Pasteur didn't invent the pasteurization process too? Or are only current scientific advancements "mucking up" our food sources?

    It's possible that the OP remembers cheese before it became the plastic-wrapped flavourless, dead, waxy stuff that fills the aisles of supermarkets today.

    As for Wisconsin or cream cheese, I know I'm not at all interested in technological advances. The last time I had real (fresh, non-pasteurised and and unadulterated) milk or cream was on a farm, and that farm wasn't in Wisconsin. And it came from a decidedly low-tech bovine animal feeding on grass. Unsurprisingly, the farm makes world-famous cheese, the same way it had been making it for hundreds of years.

    Maybe the OP has a point?

  42. mmm by cptgrudge · · Score: 5, Funny
    It's not easy to extract a large plastic syringe that's submerged in a tub of very firm cream cheese, but Mercedes Brighenti performs the task with elegance and precision. The sleeves of her white lab coat are rolled up, her long dark hair is pulled back, and her silver watch is pushed up on her slender arm. Still, the final tug flings little globs of cheese around the university lab - one of only two in the US with a cream cheese research program.

    I'm think I'm in love.

    --
    Qualitas edurus commercium, nullus penitus net rimor, nullus deus beneficium
    1. Re:mmm by cptgrudge · · Score: 1

      Sorry. My speling goes to shit when I'm all hot and bothered.

      --
      Qualitas edurus commercium, nullus penitus net rimor, nullus deus beneficium
  43. Stanky... by Czar+the+Bizarre · · Score: 1

    ..process similar to the open source movement for software.,

    id say cheese its more like proprietary software.... smelly, and full of holes.

    -Czar

    1. Re:Stanky... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Open source is more like yogurt - rotten, sloppy, and the produce of many organisms.

  44. Philadelphia by viewtouch · · Score: 1

    Cream cheese was first manufactured in the early 1800's in dozens of homes in Philadelphia, Jefferson County, New York, a Quaker settlement dating back to 1800 in the Chaumont De Leray tracts of Northern New York. I have the written history and maps to prove it. It did not originate in or near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Yes, I grew up there and ate lots of cream cheese.

    1. Re:Philadelphia by drsquare · · Score: 1

      Who invented it first is irrelevant, the fact is, that particular type of cheese is now universally referred to as 'Philadelphia'.

    2. Re:Philadelphia by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, the history of cream cheese is not irrelevant and the fact has been established that it was first made in Philadelphia, New York, and the world's largest cream cheese factory is located near Philadelphia. When people don't care about history, as you don't in this case, that doesn't somehow empower them to declare it to be irrelevant, as you seem to think you can.

  45. astounding ignorance by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    really, now? what other countries can you name which are opposed to scientific research? They may not be able to afford it, but honestly the US is certainly _not_ "apart from many other nations".

  46. Uncle Sam Knows... by mfh · · Score: 1

    ... that it's all about killing them at exactly the right moment.

    --
    The dangers of knowledge trigger emotional distress in human beings.
  47. You know, I already subscribe to wired by LiquidRaptor · · Score: 0, Redundant

    It's amazing, it seems like most of the stories anymore are repeats of ones that have been in wired for 2-3 weeks. Really, I think most geeks at least browse through wired everyonce in a while.

  48. Re:Science gone amuck again by CRCulver · · Score: 1

    Nutrition plays a huge roll in infant and child health. I would suspect that along with medicine, the availability of cheap, nutritious food has helped to lower child death rates.

    The OP was referring to the effects of such food on us adult Slashdot posters. Infant mortality is no part of the discussion

  49. Re:Science gone amuck again by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    those other countries don't have a large ethnic population that eats fried chicken and busts a cap in their ass.

  50. Re:Science gone amuck again by proxima · · Score: 1

    You're making the assumption that wages have kept pace with inflation. They haven't.

    Did you mean that wage growth has exceeded inflation? On occasion, especially in the last few years, they haven't. Over the long term, though, wages have far exceeded most measures of inflation. This is why there is a debate about whether to weight future Social Security benefits on inflation rather than on wages, as it currently is (see this, for example).

    --
    "The universe seems neither benign nor hostile, merely indifferent." --Carl Sagan
  51. Laugh all you want by Deagol · · Score: 3, Interesting
    Our second cow is a few days away from having her calf ("freshening" as it's known to dairy folks). My wife's the primary cheese maker of the house, and one of her greatest challenges has been perfecting cream cheese. We've got most of the other basic cheeses down: mozzarella, cheddar, parmesean, feta, jack, and a couple others. But cream cheese has been a constant challenge, and it's a constant frustration since we *love* cheesecake.

    mmmmmm... cheesecake

    1. Re:Laugh all you want by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      My wife's the primary cheese maker of the house

      Your wife is a cow?
    2. Re:Laugh all you want by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      My wife's the primary cheese maker of the house...
      Your local pharmacy can sell you some stuff that should clear that up with one dose. After that, it's just good hygiene.

    3. Re:Laugh all you want by Pulchellissima · · Score: 1

      Try making a full fat chevre type cheese. I know chevre is goat cheese (I have goats, so that's what I make a lot of the time), but you can make it with cows' milk. Just use the same recipe, and use rennet, not lemon. It'll make that firmer, spreadable curd. Also use some cream instead of milk.

      Mmmmm, now I'm hungry...

  52. Re:Science gone amuck again by CRCulver · · Score: 1

    How much healthier is a bottle of organic milk if it has become infected with some bacterial infection that a regular bottle of milk from a cow that was given medication to prevent such outbreaks?

    You misunderstand the definition of "organic" milk. Organic cows get vaccination against common illnesses, that's a part of animal husbandry perfectly acceptable to organic farmers. Organic milk may also be pasteurized, which means there would be no risk of bacterial infection for the consumer.

  53. I grew up near Kraft... by ruiner13 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I am from Glenview, Illinois, where Kraft has their HQ. They have a nice R&D plant right in the middle of town, and one time, when I was growing up (I was maybe 11 or 12), my friends and I took a little hike through the wooded area behind it. There was a large storm drain coming out of the plant that led into the North Branch of the Chicago River. What startled my friends and me was the presence of a few guys in biohazard suits scribbing the walls of it off with a high-pressure hose of some kind. Whatever the secret ingredient is for their cream cheese, I hope it doesn't produce whatever they were scrubbing down!

    --

    today is spelling optional day.

    1. Re:I grew up near Kraft... by mrjb · · Score: 1

      Thank you for not mentioning Kraft. And cheese in the same sentence.

      --
      Visit http://ringbreak.dnd.utwente.nl/~mrjb/growingbettersoftware to download your free copy of the book
    2. Re:I grew up near Kraft... by maxume · · Score: 1

      Biohazard? Are you sure they weren't just trying to keep clean? If it was some sort of major hazard, they wouldn't be washing it away, at least in plain sight of a bunch of kids.

      --
      Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
    3. Re:I grew up near Kraft... by ruiner13 · · Score: 1

      Technically, I think we were trespassing. There weren't any fences or signs, but we were certainly on their property. I'm fairly sure they didn't know we were there, and they were collecting the runoff, not just letting it flow into the river.

      --

      today is spelling optional day.

    4. Re:I grew up near Kraft... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "What startled my friends and me was the presence of a few guys in biohazard suits scribbing the walls of it off with a high-pressure hose of some kind. Whatever the secret ingredient is for their cream cheese, I hope it doesn't produce whatever they were scrubbing down!"

      It's not always healthy to have extended exposure to the leavings of large-scale food production, but I don't see why that ought to make one too worried.

    5. Re:I grew up near Kraft... by maxume · · Score: 1

      Of course, it is equally reassuring and disturbing that they were collecting the runoff.

      --
      Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
  54. Re:Science gone amuck again by idonthack · · Score: 1
    Pepsi, McDonalds, and Pop Rocks.
    Be careful, your stomach might explode.
    --
    Why is it that when you believe something it's an opinion, but when I believe something it's a manifesto?
  55. Old Fashion Organic Cream Cheese by FosterSJC · · Score: 5, Informative
    Carlton Yoder, of Champlain Valley Creamery, makes one of America's only stabilizer- and gum-free cream cheeses. You can learn about his products and creamery from his website at http://www.cvcream.com/, and buy the cream cheese here. He is a very enthusiastic proponent of sustainable agriculture, in Vermont.

    The texture of Old Fashion Organic Cream Cheese is similar to fresh goat cheese, but with more creaminess and without that distinct goats milk flavor. Because we dont stabilize the cheese with any sort of gums (carob bean, xanthan, etc), the cheese may separate. The liquid is simply whey, just stir it up and enjoy! The cheese is best in the first week after its made, but it will last 4 weeks in your fridge.


    On the subject of cheese, the distinctions between things like soured, curdled milk, sour cream, cream cheese, mascarpone, and full-fledged cheese are myriad and arcane. I wrote a quick blurb for a friend, explaining what cheese exactly is. I have attached it below, for your perusal. IAACE (I am a cheese expert)...

    Cheese is a rather general term describing curdled milk (or cream). To curdle milk means to separate the whey from the curds. Milk proteins (casein) are ostensibly broken in half. One half precipitates out of the milk, becoming a solid (the curds). The other half remains liquid (the whey), though it ceases to be white. The distinction between true cheese and things like cream cheese, sour cream, mascarpone, creme fraiche, etc. is the way in which the milk is curdled.

    Milk can be curdled either by acid and/or by rennet. To be considered a true cheese (e.g. cheddar, swiss, brie, et. al.), acid AND rennet coagulation (i.e. curdling) is required. First, a culture is added to the milk (or is already present in the milk in the case of some raw milk cheeses). This culture "ferments" the milk, slowly lowering the pH (raising the acidity) of the milk.
    Then, rennet is added - this is an enzyme derived from the fourth stomach chamber of an unweaned ruminant animal (e.g. a calf, kid, or lamb). This enzyme literally breaks apart the proteins in the milk, an action facilitated by the presence of acid (and heat), and separates the milk into curds and whey. The whey is poured off (either to make ricotta, or to feed to hogs). The curds are then cut, releasing more whey, drained, and molded (this is a gross simplification - most of the textural variations in cheese stem from this process). At this point, the curds have become cheese.

    False cheeses like creme fraiche, mascarpone, sour cream, etc. are curdled very lightly and without the use of rennet. The acid required can be produced by natural or added bacteria, vinegar, lemon juice, etc. The variations in the acid-curdled "cheeses" come from the extent of acidification, coagulation, variations in fat content, types of cultures, etc. For example, creme fraiche is cream (thus, high in fat) that is lightly coagulated (lower acidity). Sour cream is cream that is more heavily coagulated. This slight difference in acidity and cultures will cause sour cream to fully curdle (i.e. turn chunky) when boiled, whereas creme fraiche will not.

    The diversity and complexity of cheesemaking processes is overwhelming. I hope this helps to illustrate (if not simplify) the breadth of the cheese world.
    1. Re:Old Fashion Organic Cream Cheese by xyzzyb · · Score: 1

      Interesting, thanks for that.

    2. Re:Old Fashion Organic Cream Cheese by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Cheese is not exclusivly based on the use of animal derived rennet. Rennet is also available from a vegetable source; it can be found in the soil from a mold. Other plant based coagulates are used too.

    3. Re:Old Fashion Organic Cream Cheese by FosterSJC · · Score: 1

      This is indeed true. Rennet-like substances can also be derived from Thistle (cardoon), fig tree bark, fungal and microbial sources, and organisms genetically modified to produce the appropriate enzyme. The enzyme sought after is called Chymosin (rennin).

      Thanks for bringing this up.

  56. Re:Science gone amuck again by Toba82 · · Score: 1

    No way. Have you seen the artificial shit they feed those humans?

    --
    I pretend to know more than I really do by mooching off google and wikipedia.
  57. EZ Cheese: fermenting sugars with a high-fat base by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I just came back from a raw food culinary arts intstitute in california, and here is how they made great cheeses--the key is fat + fermentation.

    Soak nuts overnite. Rinse. Puree with water and probiotics or just Rejuvalac to a consistency somewhat more watery then ricotta. Place cheesecloth in berry bins. Pour puree in, wrap cheesecloth around, and place berry bin and weight on top to press down lightly (the berry bin keeps shape while letting excess fluids soak out). Wait a day. The fat has the same consistency as cheese. The bacteria work the same magic on nut sugars as on milk sugars. It IS cheese, when you understand cheese as a particular process of fermenting a high-fat base with some sugars in it.

    For Rawmasan, make pine nut cheese with a lot of salt, dehydrate in a thin layer and flake.

  58. Re:Science gone amuck again by PhoenixK7 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The world has done very well without scientists mucking up our food sources. How many thousands of years have people lived off what the earth grows?

    Really you couldn't be more wrong. They may not have called themselves scientists, but farmers have been selecting crop products basesd on traits for millenia. Do you know what we call corn now looked like before domestication? It's thought to have been derived from teosinte. We've been engineering foods for thousdands and thousands of years. You find one kernel on the plant, grow a few, look for the ones with 2 kernels, and so on. Hell, breadfruit which is found throughout polynesia and micronesia used to reproduce sexually. The current plants are now pretty much all derived from parts of a few original plants and they now rarely, if ever, produce any seeds. To imply that genetic engineering is new is pure and utter garbage. We're simply doing it in a more directed manner now with better tools. Will there be unseen health effects? Sure! In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if there are recalls on crops down the line. Is what we're doing now any less natural, I don't think so.

  59. Troll? by ackthpt · · Score: 2, Insightful
    "The work is funded by federal grants," (snip other sources of funding, yes I know it's not ALL tax funded)

    I am so glad that tax dollars extorted from me are being spent on such important projects. Thanks Uncle Sam!

    I wonder if you meant this in humour and were completely overlooking the Open Source bias of slashdot.

    Here's another way to look at it:
    The government funds are going into something which will be released to the public.

    Rather than: The government funded collegiate research will become proprietary to the University of Wisconsin, which will then lease out the rights to dairy producers the patented processes of precisely producing Cream Cheese.

    I think I'm find with government funded public domain knowledge. Doesn't appear you are at all. Care to clarify?

    --

    A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
    1. Re:Troll? by Millenniumman · · Score: 1

      I'm not the original poster, but I am not fine with this. If people wanted to freely donate to this research they could. Instead, they are forced to do so, and it is not necessary to preserve their rights.

      --
      Stupidity is like nuclear power, it can be used for good or evil. And you don't want to get any on you.
    2. Re:Troll? by susano_otter · · Score: 1

      ...and it is not necessary to preserve their rights.

      You've been repeating this line over and over again throughout this thread, as if Slashdot has never heard a hardcore libertarian talking point before.

      We get it. You're a hardcore libertarian. Interstate highways, most scientific research, and farm subsidies are all Very Bad Things. Yes. We understand. You can stop harping on it already.

      --

      Any sufficiently well-organized community is indistinguishable from Government.

  60. Open-source cheese vs. proprietary cheese by NPN_Transistor · · Score: 2, Interesting
    Kraft, which has been perfecting its Philadelphia-brand cheese for more than 75 years, closely guards its manufacturing secrets, keeping them in a vault in Chicago. What it knows, it isn't sharing... Brighenti is part of a push to make the secrets of cream cheese available to anyone.

    Kraft has dominance on the cheese market and has a proprietary formula... some people are trying to make cheese available to everyone. Sounds a lot like the software industry. One company has dominance on the industry, and that company isn't willing to give away what the "ingredients" of the product are. A group of people are trying to make the product "available to anyone".

    Open-source cheese isn't a crazy idea. There's already open-source beer.

    1. Re:Open-source cheese vs. proprietary cheese by maxume · · Score: 1

      Of course, Kraft is really good at making cheese and 'available to everyone' here means that you can put more effort into making it than you would pay to buy it if you want.

      It's still worth doing so more people can experiment with making it and come up with new cheeses and the like, but it isn't going to cost less...

      --
      Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
  61. Simiar to Open Source? by JohnsonWax · · Score: 1, Insightful

    You mean, like peer-review science? Gee, have we really fallen so far that we don't recognize what proper science looks like?

    1. Re:Simiar to Open Source? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not only has our science failed us, but from even non-creationists I've spoken with America has failed at properly explaining to our children what good science IS.

  62. Re:Science gone amuck again by sessamoid · · Score: 2, Interesting
    Even if you only look at Life Expectance at age 65, the US has been continuously improving for the last 100 years, and certainly has been higher than the four score and ten that you mention.
    Quite true. Even as recently as the advent of the social security system in 1935, the average life expectancy of the working male was considerably under the 65 years of age set as "retirement" when they passed the Social Security Act. They weren't actually expecting most people to live long enough to draw benefits from the social security system. Only as the adult population has gotten older and older has the social security system become in danger of becoming insolvent.
    --
    "No, no, no. Don't tug on that. You never know what it might be attached to."
  63. Pasteurization sucks, here's why by daemonenwind · · Score: 1
    First off, pasteurization has killed the flavor of milk. You see, you could do a slow cook at somewhat lower temperatures to kill any possible bad stuff. But that takes time, and time is money. So nearly all milk gets rocketed up to about 162F, killing the flavor, a good part of the vitamin content, and much of what would let you digest it properly. Real milk is precious little like what you get at the store, even here in Wisconsin where I am. (if you're curious, read the Wikipedia article on raw milk, it's not half bad, if somewhat biased to my POV)

    Second, there are some really good soft-cheeses you can't make for sale in the US. The type you need to use unpasteurized milk for. Shame, really.

    Third, as you could probably guess, pasteurization is an excuse for not maintaining a clean milking facility. My grandpa was a dairy farm supervisor for a huge US-based food company. Time was, you could eat off any surface in a milkhouse. You could practically fab CPUs in there. I wouldn't try either one today. Pasteurization leads to sloppiness.

    And just for lasting this far, here are some goodies for you:
    Wisconsin Guide to Cutting the Cheese
    A real cheesecake recipe. Just leave out the orange zest, keep the lemon zest. And screw the toppings - good cheesecake don't need no steenking toppings. Seems appropriate for a thread on cream cheese. (Thanks, Emeril)

    Oh, and just for the sake of being topical, government-funded research on improving the foodstocks and on breaking knowledge monopolies in food production can only be a good thing. This is exactly the non-sexy sort of research that we need to do more often.

  64. I believe he meant Philadelphia brand cream cheese by Reality+Master+201 · · Score: 2, Informative
    Rather than referring to the place of origin, I believe the grandparent was referring to the brand of cream cheese made by Kraft Foods. Check out their website for an explanation of the purported origin of cream cheese. Apparently, the brand name was choses because people at the time associated Philadelphia with quality.

    As a longtime resdient of the city of brotherly filth, let me just say that the mind just fucking reels at that association.

  65. Re:Science gone amuck again by talkingpaperclip · · Score: 1

    "For most of those 'thousands of years' you talk about, people had lifespans of around thirty years."

    So we went from a life expectancy of around 30 years before cheese was invented, to a current life expectancy of 77-81 years in our cheese-blessed society.

    A coincidence? I think not.

  66. Jalapeno poppers by rdunnell · · Score: 2, Funny

    Did the research include an investigation as to why jalapeno poppers are more addictive than many street drugs?

    I think that's one of the most important issues regarding cream cheese, at least as far as /. is concerned.

  67. Re:Security Through Obscurity Fails Yet Again by Forbman · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Worrying about a few hundred thousand dollars of a seemingly trivial research grant, and possibly ignoring the billions of dollars going into the occupation of Iraq monthly? Makes sense to me.

  68. Great people, we are! by lovesinghal · · Score: 1
    I realize after reading the complete article what a great person I am, reading all about making cream cheese on a friday night!
    Kudos to all of us who have posted this article, read it, and put comments on it.

    Fiat Lux in Nerd world.

  69. Great cheese page by mrjb · · Score: 3, Informative

    This is by far the best cheese making page I've ever come across on the net.

    --
    Visit http://ringbreak.dnd.utwente.nl/~mrjb/growingbettersoftware to download your free copy of the book
  70. Tofutti lactose-free Cream Cheese (vegan) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    For people who can't have lactose (80% of the adult population of the planet, apparently), vegans, and anyone else:

    http://tofutti.com/btcc.0.asp

    Also comes in a non-hydrogenated variety (made with organic sugar): http://tofutti.com/nh.0.asp

    Sour cream and other dairy substitutes also listed!

    Whole Foods and some more progressive installations of major supermarkets (like Ralphs) carry it.

    1. Re:Tofutti lactose-free Cream Cheese (vegan) by chawly · · Score: 1

      Why am I not surprised. Lactose free cheese ! Free as in beer ? As in speech ? Will they pay me to take it away ? Will I get arrested if I'm found with it (like burglary tools, say) ?

      --
      How many beans make five, anyhow ? ... Charles Walmsley
  71. Sigh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    It's 5 AM on a Saturday morning, and here I am, reading about cheese on Slashdot, eating Sour Patch Kids, and wondering...where did it all go wrong?

    1. Re:Sigh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You too, huh?

      Actually I think I woke up because I ate too much spicy food last night. "Ring of Fire" indeed.

  72. Re:Science gone amuck again by eviljav · · Score: 1

    So, you're saying that "other than all the people who died younger, people lived just as long back then"?

  73. Re:Science gone amuck again by PatrickThomson · · Score: 1

    What he means is that if you use this "30 years old" statistic in an argument against someone who's 35 to tell them they'd be dead, then you're wrong. If you're old enough to read and write, then you've survived the high-mortality period.

    --
    I am one of many. My idea is not unique, nor do I expect my voice alone to sway you. I speak in a chorus of opinion.
  74. News? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Slashdot: News for Herds. Stuff that fattens.

  75. Oh, no! I figured out what they're up to. by Cicero382 · · Score: 1

    Don't you see? It's the military!

    What they're planning is to engineer the bacteria so that it commits apoptosis (programmed cell death) when the time is right. Better cream cheese. What they *won't* tell anyone is that it's also the engineered to splice the apoptosis sequence to human DNA. Then, when the time is right, a massive marketing campaign will force the enemy to eat nothing but cream cheese and...

    I have to go, I can hear black helicopters.

  76. Re:Science gone amuck again by suv4x4 · · Score: 1

    Our lifespans are longer than they have ever been in the first world, thanks largely to modern science-based medicine.

    Don't forget to take your daily "life extension" pill every morning!

    That's funny, you know, I and my family have on average a lot longer life-span than 30 years, yet we just survive on clean water, food and air.

    But maybe I gotta grab some pills and swallow them, just in case I might die otherwise.

    Seriously: don't forget a large portion of the health problems we suffer today are because of our "modern life": preservatives in food, sugar, stress, air pollution, antibiotics and hormones in the meat we eat, cell phones, electric transformers, wi-fi networks.

    People before were dying because of bad hygiene and infected water and food or lack thereof. They were not dying because they didn't have medicines to drink.

  77. Re:I believe he meant Philadelphia brand cream che by viewtouch · · Score: 1

    I'll enhance my assertion. In 1955 my great grandmother, who was born in 1870, personally told me about the village's cream cheese heritage and how she had learned to make cream cheese in the 1870's there in Philadelphia, New York by her grandparents who had been making cream cheese in their home for sale to the public for many years. Hell, we had cream cheese with jelly on the table at breakfast every day. People were spreading it on the slices of the pies they made from the green apples they picked from the orchards in their back yards. The nonsense about cream cheese only being made first in Philadelphia, PA, in 1872 is merely a corporate myth.

    Why you get mod points for directing everyone to the Kraft web site and I don't get any for passing on my own direct knowledge of what really happened two centuries ago is beyond me. I used to date the granddaughter of the woman who first devised the recipe for Thousand Island dressing so I know all about that one, too. I could tell lots of interesting stories. Interesting to me, at least, and many of us certainly feel the same way.

  78. Re:Security Through Obscurity Fails Yet Again by Peter+La+Casse · · Score: 1

    Perhaps the poster in question is for the war in Iraq, and wants to use the cheese funds to prolong it an additional 5 seconds.

  79. Re:I believe he meant Philadelphia brand cream che by viewtouch · · Score: 2, Informative

    More on this...
    Gary Allen reprints a section of the book by Eunice Stamm, The History of Cheesemaking in The Empire State from the Early Dutch Settlers to Modern Times. If you go to http://tinyurl.com/opmbs you will read this:
    -------------
    the Catskills were just huge tracts of rocky open land that weren't suitable for farming. Farmers often complained that "there were two stones for every dirt" -- but the deforested hills were ideally suited for cow pastures. This, in turn, created the need for a market that could absorb the glut of New York State dairy products. However, with limited refrigeration available, and fears of tuberculosis in the city, fresh milk could not yet be shipped safely in the large volumes that were being produced. Consequently, cheese makers in the region found a ready market for their products. In 1870, Neufchatel was being made in New Jersey for the New York City market, but Charles Green, living in the village of Chester, in the southern Catskills, thought he could do better. In 1872, he hired a European cheese maker to teach him how to make the soft cheese.

    What Green didn't know was that another local cheese maker, William A. Lawrence, had overheard the lessons. Lawrence immediately went home and duplicated the recipe -- but doubled the amount of cream. The result was cream cheese, which was packed and shipped from Philadelphia as "Star Brand Cream Cheese." Lawrence also produced and sold "Cow Brand Neufchatel." By the 1880s he had moved his plant west, to Philadelphia, New York.

    At the time, Pennsylvania's Philadelphia had a reputation for making fine foods, so the most fashionable marketing name in the United States was "Philadelphia," and in 1885, the Empire Cheese Company in South Edmeston, New York, registered the brand name "Philadelphia Brand Cream Cheese." The Empire Cheese Company's factory burned down in 1900, but was rebuilt as "The Phenix" (like the mythical bird that rises from its own ashes every 500 years -- but spelled without an "o"). The company itself was renamed "The Phenix Cheese Corporation" in 1924, but the name didn't last nearly as long as its namesake because Kraft bought the company along with the "Philadelphia" brand name, in 1928.

    Today, Kraft is the world's largest producer of cream cheese, and its factory in Lowville, New York, is responsible for 40% of its production. The next largest producer is Breakstone, with its plant in nearby Downsville.
    -------------
    There you have it. William Lawrence moved to Philadelphia New York to learn how to make cream cheese! OK, so, now, where is Lowville? Well, it's about about 30 minutes down the road from Philadelphia, New York. Surprise, Surprise! When Gary Allen talks about the Catskills being rocky and best suited for Dairy farming he's also talking about the part of New York state where Philadelphia and Lowville are situated, in the St. Lawrence River Valley. All these towns are not in the Catskills, they are in Northern New York, in the area between the Adirondacks and the St. Lawrence River & Lake Ontario. Allen himself doesn't actually say this, but he should have. Another thing - Why in hell would William Lawrence move from the area of Chester, NY, all the way to Northern New York state, to the village & town of Philadelphia, New York? Well, as I explained in my previous post, the people there were already famous for making this same type of cheese by 1870-80! He moved there to learn how - and boy, did he!

    Mebbe the people at Kraft think that people would get confused if they printed the truth on their web site, mebbe they just never gave the simple job of learning the truth to any of their researchers - who knows? At any rate, I've just told you much more than you'll learn from Kraft or from Wikipedia. I guess I'll head on over to Wikipedia and replace the myths the people have placed there with the truth when I'm done here.

    Gene Mosher

  80. OK I waited long enough by Progman3K · · Score: 1

    Is there any possibility of finding out new information about quark (cheese)?

    --
    I don't know the meaning of the word 'don't' - J
    1. Re:OK I waited long enough by chawly · · Score: 1

      None, I'm afraid. Sorry.

      --
      How many beans make five, anyhow ? ... Charles Walmsley
  81. haha by mnemonic_ · · Score: 1

    I can't believe my post got modded "insightful."

  82. Re:Science gone amuck again by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "I now see in my grocery store "organic milk", it is priced twice as expensive as the gallon of regular milk"
    If it's your grocery store, then why don't you set the prices as you wish?

  83. Re:I believe he meant Philadelphia brand cream che by Reality+Master+201 · · Score: 1
    The nonsense about cream cheese only being made first in Philadelphia, PA, in 1872 is merely a corporate myth.

    Well, if you read the webpage a bit more carefully, you'd have noticed that it says that cream cheese was in fact invented in Chester, NY, and not Philadelphia. Not that is isn't a corporate myth, but at least criticise the actual statement's content.

    Why you get mod points for directing everyone to the Kraft web site and I don't get any for passing on my own direct knowledge of what really happened two centuries ago is beyond me.

    I provided a link to something; Slashdot moderators like links. What are you gonnna do?

    I used to date the granddaughter of the woman who first devised the recipe for Thousand Island dressing so I know all about that one, too.

    Oh yeah? Well, I used to date the granddaughter of the guy who coined the term "black hole" (in the sense of the gravitational phenomenon, not the dungeon in Calcuta). I could also tell lots of interesting stories, or ones that are at least interesting to me or to other people with equally skewed ideas of what constitutes interesting.

  84. Re:if it makes the food supply cheaper/more reliab by Millenniumman · · Score: 1

    If one wants to contribute to better cream cheese, or any other improvement in the food supply, then one can donate to a research facility. Being forced to donate to such research through taxation is not necessary to preserve the rights of the citizens of the United States, and as such is an inappropriate use of taxes. Spending $500 Million to restore a submarine is also a waste of tax dollars.

    --
    Stupidity is like nuclear power, it can be used for good or evil. And you don't want to get any on you.
  85. Re:Security Through Obscurity Fails Yet Again by Millenniumman · · Score: 1

    The original poster said nothing about the war in Iraq.

    Even if it did not succeed in doing this, the war in Iraq was supposed to preserve the safety of the American people, which is the government's duty. Cream cheese research is not even supposedly necessary to preserve our rights.

    --
    Stupidity is like nuclear power, it can be used for good or evil. And you don't want to get any on you.
  86. Cheeese by mrmeval · · Score: 1

    Damn I want a boob and cream cheese treat now. Why did it have to be women in cream cheese?

    --
    I'd go on a Vegan diet but the delivery time from Vega is too long. --brownkitty
  87. Re:I believe he meant Philadelphia brand cream che by viewtouch · · Score: 1

    You obviously didn't read all of the new content on both of the posts I provided for you and all to read, the second of which was entered only a few moments after my first response to you so you could read them both, and which provided plenty of exactly the kind of information which you claim I don't provide. I think you really need to get a grip and maybe even follow the links provided, the ones you say I don't provide. If you don't give a shit about history and you don't like it when people do explain history to you then mebbe you shouldn't bother responding to the posts of people who do like history and who can explain it to you. Responding to the publication of little known facts with sarcasm is not justified even if you don't give a shit about the history of Thousand Island dressing, either. People do care, even if you don't. It would have been far better for the discussion if you had chosen to add to it with any new facts that you were aware of rather than to act like an angry child.

  88. Re:Science gone amuck again by whovian · · Score: 1

    What relaxed requirements are you talking about as far as what you listed?

    To be certified as organic by the California Certified Organic Farmers, organic animals must eat 100% organic feed, whereas as far as the USDA is concerned, a dairy herd being converted over to organic milk producers may be fed a minimum of 80% organic feed for a portion of the conversion period (which is 1 year). And in general the USDA allows for several classes of labeling scheme that include the word organic. For example, "made with organic ingredients" means that the product is made with >= 70% organic ingredients. (Refs. http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9355830/ http://www.ams.usda.gov/nop/Q&A.html http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2005-06-26-org anic-food-rules_x.htm )

    Usually, something has to actually has to be linked to killing a bunch of people for it to be totally banned, not the other way around. Foods like corn syrup has been regarded to be generally safe by the FDA. That does not mean it is the best stuff for everyone to eat, however.

    Off-topic. I never mentioned health aspects.

    That does not mean it is the best stuff for everyone to eat, however. Why can't the consumer decide what is good or bad for themselves?

    While I agree with you, the government hasn't been laissez-faire with this. Under the Foods Uniformity Act(s), the States cannot issue stricter standards regarding warnings on labels than provided for by the federal government. Thus a company need not have to design a new label for every state with the latter's own nuanced laws. While that is arguably easier on the companies, there is less choice for consumers.

    --
    To-do List: Receive telemarketing call during a tornado warning. Check.
  89. YHBT by alfs+boner · · Score: 1
    --
    Listen p*ssy. I'm sure your the same homo that posted earlier about alf's boner and you just want to remain anonymous fo
  90. Cheese, glorious cheese! by Rich+Klein · · Score: 1
    This one is -- where else? -- in Madison, Wisconsin...
    Sure, where else? It's not like any other state is known for their cheese. I mean, no one has heard of cheddar, for instance, coming from Vermont! :-P
    --
    -Rich
    1. Re:Cheese, glorious cheese! by chawly · · Score: 1

      The only true cheddar comes from England. Furthermore, the bacteria don't have to be killed "at the right time". "At the right time" the bacteria commit suicide by running over the side of the Cheddar Gorge (English equivalent of the Grand Canyon) just like lemmings.

      --
      How many beans make five, anyhow ? ... Charles Walmsley
    2. Re:Cheese, glorious cheese! by Rich+Klein · · Score: 1

      I didn't realize that bacteria committed suicide, but it makes sense. I don't think they'd have the heart to kill bacteria in Vermont.

      --
      -Rich
  91. Re:Science gone amuck again by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Your argument is reasonable, as long as you ignore one *very* pertinant fact; until now farmers have been breeding like to like. For thousands of years farmers have been selecting based on expressed characteristics but have been limited to selecting and cross breeding within the same, or genetically compatible, species. The problem now is that scientists are inserting genes from completely different species, and doing so without really understanding what they are doing.

  92. Re:fetacheese by Anomalyst · · Score: 1

    From a cow?

    --
    There is no right to feel safe thru security vaudeville at the expense of everyone's freedom, privacy and tax money.
  93. oh my god by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    acid-secreting bacteria used to coagulate the milk need to be killed at the right time.

    Innocent bacteria being killed simply for their secretions. That's just sick!

    I hope they do it humanely. The thought of all those poor bacteria, screaming in horror.. I don't even want to imagine what technique is used ... I bet some of those crazy factory works *enjoy* ending the life of a beautiful, gentle creature, in the prime of its life. Hey you idiots! If God wanted bacteria to die young, that's how he would've made them!

    This kind of selfishness should stop. How would you like it if someone killed you, just because you gave off a certain chemical?

    I'm making some signs:

    • SAVE THE BACTERIA
    • CHEESE IS MURDER
    • TOFU-BASED CREAM CHEESE SAVES BILLIONS OF LIVES!

    Feel free to make your own signs, and display them at demonstrations. We can do this, people!

    -- This message brought to you by PETA

  94. Re:Piss off Roland by chawly · · Score: 1

    Aw....I bet his mother .... well, at least she bears him no ill will. Though it's true that "some mothers do 'ave 'em".

    --
    How many beans make five, anyhow ? ... Charles Walmsley
  95. Open Source by blair1q · · Score: 1

    Are the results going to be free to the public, or hidden behind a trade association membership form?

    I've tried to get answers out of food-industry associations before. Forget it unless you want to join, which sometimes requires proof of corporate activity, and always requires a hefty fee.

    So if this "available to everyone in the industry" thing isn't "free to everyone," Kraft will get the secrets that fill out their copious internal data, but you won't learn how to break off a big chunk of hteir market share unless you're already a lesser-learned competitor.

  96. Re:if it makes the food supply cheaper/more reliab by Jesapoo · · Score: 1

    Then where do you draw the line at what is useful spending and what is not? Having highways across the country doesn't affect the rights of citizens, does it? How about those marching bands in the army? They're not protecting me!

    By your definition, you could argue that most of the US spending, which you are forced to pay, is not necessary. Lets take a look at the US government...

    Department of Housing & Urban Development? If people want houses, they can spend the money themselves! Can't afford a house? Build your own, ya lazy bastards!

    Amtrak? That financial black hole doesn't do anything for my rights! Trains? TRAINS? If I want to travel by rail I'll buy myself one of those hand-operated cart things.

    Nasa? Hubble's photos don't keep me safe at night! Mars rovers? Unless they're tracking down and killing those bloody martians, then I don't want anything to do with it! Weather satellites? Stick your head out a window!

    Department of State? Those wasteful bastards spending all that money on foreigners - it's a disgrace! They're not American, so what do we care? The fight against international HIV/AIDS? If you want to stop thousands of people dying from a horrible disease, then be my guest, but count me out!

    Now, Homeland Security... That's $30billion well spent!

  97. Re:if it makes the food supply cheaper/more reliab by Millenniumman · · Score: 1

    Highways could be and are built by private entities, but you seem to be forgetting that one of the main reasons for the Interstate Highway System was defense. I'm not against public roads but they should be run and payed for by local governments if possible. Most federal spending is not necessary. I may be remembering incorrectly, but I believe the budget for medicare and social security is over 1 trillion dollars. I believe that the people of the United States could spend that money and secure their own medical care and investments far better. People are expected to pay for their home. If you can't afford a house, rent a home. If you can't afford that, find someone else in a similar situation and pool your money. Don't force others to pay for it. If you want to help people get homes, do so, freely. If the trains can make money, then private enterprise will build them. Otherwise, use cars, or other transportation you can buy for yourself. If they are so much less efficient considering gas prices etc. then trains will make money. Most of NASA should be left to private enterprise. If the rewards are so great, then some of those greedy capitalists will be sure to invest. It costs a lot to get into space now, but that's partially because there is no incentive to find better ways. With guaranteed money taken from taxpayers, there's little reason to do a good job. If you want to help people in other countries, then help them, they'll surely appreciate your support, financial or otherwise. But should you be forced to, especially considering that since the government is doing it, politics and corruption will get in the way of helping people? Homeland security is necessary, and it freedom of association doesn't apply. If you are going to protect a nation, you have to protect all of it. If someone chooses not to pay for it, you can't not protect them while protecting everyone nearby. And private security agencies powerful enough to protect this country could do anything they wanted to it.

    --
    Stupidity is like nuclear power, it can be used for good or evil. And you don't want to get any on you.
  98. Re:fetacheese by Deagol · · Score: 1

    Yes. I know goat aand sheep is the traditional milk for feta, but it can be done w/ cow's milk. We've also made cheddar and mozzarella with goat milk.

  99. re: CHEESE by djdavetrouble · · Score: 1

    well, i'm off to make a cheese sandwich at 11:39 pm.
    thanks slashdot community for making me hungry with
    your incessant cheese chatter.

    --
    music lover since 1969