If I owned a cheese company I would make yummo cheese - healthy (within reason) and wholesome. I would have big vats of cheese, all different kinds. When I package the cheese in 8 ounce blocks I know there would be left over sizes that didn't weigh the standard 8 ounces. I don't like waste, so what to do with the left overs? In days gone by these uneven bits and pieces would go in the employee store and sold for a few pennies on the dollar.
One day, after a good night's sleep, a light bulb goes off. I could finely shred those small bits and pieces and sell them at a higher price than the block cheeses because it's a convenience food for the consumer. I could even mix cheeses and call them gourmet. I'm going to set up an area of my plant to experiment with this thought.
I would rent the equipment for a while until the stats on sales came in - most likely 6 months to a year. I decide, a year is a good indicator for future sales.
To my surprise, a year is too long. Sales go through the roof, even after the item is off a buy one get one sale. Time to manipulate the package size. But, wait. There's been lots of talk about companies reducing the amount of food in the same size box. How do I rise to meet this concern?
Bingo! I add other ingredients in the shredded cheese package to be able to reduce the amount of real cheese. Now what can hide in shredded cheese? After a few days of thought and a brain storming session with my top management team, the answer comes. I don't know why I didn't think of it a year ago. We could add 1) baking powder or flour, and/or 2) cellulose. We could even market the food as all natural, because after all, cellulose is natural. The truth - wood shavings- wouldn't sound too appetizing, so cellulose it is. If cellulose is the cheapest item to use, I think the flour or baking powder doesn't need to be entertained.
And then the price will increase because it's 'all natural'.
In reality if I owned a cheese company there would be strict rules and the cheese would come from organic milk Even if a package says 'natural' we need to look at the ingredients. Is cellulose an added ingredient? You may want to think about grating your own cheese.
I agree that cellulose isn't a great dissectant, but when cheese is grated (like when I grate my own from the bricks), you have to add a drying agent to keep it from becoming one big sticky clump of shreds in the bag. I usually add some corn starch or all purpose flour to the cheese in my zip top bag, seal and shake it up well. Then I don't have lumps or clumps. The alternative is to only shred as much as you'll need for a single use in a single recipe. I like to shred up a whole brick, though, to save time.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Elise for the frugal hack. I've never done this, but it certainly makes sense. I will be doing this in the future. Thanks, again. I love it!
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