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I enjoyed reading the article, but really wish it had photos to help educate the reader on how to distinguish between crystals and mold.
If you like sharp cheddar, the best cheese in the world is "Cougar Gold" from WSU Creamery in eastern Washington, USA, a region not known to be a hotbed of find cheeses. It comes in a can, also not thought of as a delivery vector for a great cheese, but there you have it. Tastes great out of the can or you can age it for a few years in the refrigerator. Five or 6 years is fine. I absolutely love the crystals. No mold forms unless you open the can.

WSU's other cheeses are okay but do not stand out to me. Nothing from England or France has delivered the sharp cheddar experience like Cougar Gold.

I just ordered two cans of the cougar gold, one of the viking, and one of the mild cheddar. If it's not good I will blame you.

The archaic checkout system and the fact that this is a Washington State school agricultural product make me think that this will be the best cheese I've ever eaten in my life. Quite fond of their apples!

Each can is almost 2 lb. You are ready for this?
Hmmm, I'm somewhat doubtful about cheese from the USA as my experience there (only on holiday, mind) was that most cheese seems to be made of plastic. However, I fully acknowledge my lack of knowledge about good/great american cheeses and I'm sure there are small scale producers of quality products.

Some of the best cheddars that I've tried are Wyke Farms Cheddar (from Somerset, but not quite in Cheddar itself) and my favourite is Davidstow which comes from Cornwall. Quite why you'd be expecting quality Cheddar cheese from France is beyond me - wouldn't they consider it insulting to be making an English style cheese when they have so very many unique types of French cheese?

The well known Rainier cherry cultivar similarly comes from Washington State University - quite an ag program they have there!
Not the first time I've seen it organically recommended, and I'm not surprised. A buddy has some of this stuff, he usually ages it for a minimum of a year, ideally 2+, in the fridge. Will sometimes have fantastic crystals, and even if it doesn't it's still exceptional sharp cheddar.
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Hard calcium-lactate crystals are an intentional feature of Belvitano cheese. They add a great texture and add tanginess to parmesan-esque taste.
> Actually, all cheese making produces quite a bit of wastage. On average, if a dairy starts with ten-thousand pounds of milk, they’ll end up with only a thousand pounds of cheese. The remaining nine-thousand pounds ends up as whey while the curd is formed.

> That’s right: if you run the numbers on cheese manufacturing, the percent yield is only about 10%.

Yogurt-making produces a lot of whey too, though probably closer to ~50% whey rather than 90% (when made at home). The only difference between greek yogurt and regular yogurt is that greek yogurt is strained to remove the whey, making it thicker / creamier. Though most commercial brands try to cheat and thicken it with something like pectin (which usually makes it kind of jello-y).

Anyways all that to say my favorite yogurt is the one where the only ingredient is milk + yogurt culture. No thickeners, added sugars, flavoring, I like to add those myself.

>> That’s right: if you run the numbers on cheese manufacturing, the percent yield is only about 10%.

Percent yield is an odd choice of words when the "waste" product is 90-95% water.

The waste is not useful as water. You can get the runs from drinking it. It won't clean your car bumper well. Etc.

Urine is mostly water as well, but I'd still classify it as a waste product.

> Yogurt-making produces a lot of whey too, though probably closer to ~50% whey rather than 90% (when made at home). The only difference between greek yogurt and regular yogurt is that greek yogurt is strained to remove the whey, making it thicker / creamier.

If you don't strain the whey, yogurt-making produces 0% whey. And I make it at home, so I know I'm not missing anything. Your math is wrong.

Aged Gouda from the Netherlands (my favorite!) is riddled with these crystals.
I'm picturing the author as Ratatouille, sniff-testing all the food for poison for his family
The Coastal aged cheddar that Costco sells has these. And she's right, it makes the cheese much more enjoyable.
Right about the calcium lactate crystals, though wrong about lactic acid causing muscle pain; this has been debunked.
My favorite super market bought cheese is mainland tasty cheddar, the best tasting blocks always have crystals.
Aged Cabot Brand cheese often has these crystals. It’s like a little salty crunch in every bite.
Is it just me or does this have a familiar "edited by Chat GPT" feel to it? I can only take this chatty writing style in moderation but it seems everyone is using Chat GPT to edit their work in the same way.
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