Why are the holes in Emmentaler cheese not square?
The holes in Emmentaler cheese, commonly known as "eyes," are not square due to the natural cheese-making process that results in their formation. The characteristic holes are created by gas bubbles produced by bacteria that are added to the milk during the cheese-making process. These bacteria, particularly Propionibacterium freudenreichii subsp. shermanii, consume the lactic acid produced by other bacteria in the early stages of cheese fermentation and release carbon dioxide gas as a by-product. This carbon dioxide gas becomes trapped in the cheese curd, forming bubbles that create holes as the cheese matures.
The reason the holes are round rather than square or any other shape is due to the physics of gas bubble formation and pressure distribution within the cheese matrix. When the gas is released, it forms bubbles that exert pressure evenly in all directions. This isotropic (equal in all directions) pressure tends to create spherical cavities because a sphere is a shape that minimizes the surface area for a given volume, making it the most energy-efficient configuration. As the cheese hardens, these spherical holes become slightly more irregular but generally retain a round shape due to the way they were initially formed.
In contrast, creating square holes would require a uniform directional pressure or constraint that does not naturally occur in the cheese-making process. The natural, isotropic expansion of gas bubbles leads to the round shape of the holes in Emmentaler and similar cheeses.
Is there a way you can imagine to get the bacteria to position themselves in such a way that the gasses they produce create square holes?
Creating square holes in cheese like Emmentaler through bacterial gas production would be an innovative and complex challenge, given the natural tendency for gas bubbles to form spherical shapes due to isotropic pressure distribution. However, imagining a theoretical approach to achieve square holes involves manipulating the cheese matrix and the conditions under which the bacteria produce gas. Here are a few speculative ideas:
Micro-structuring the Cheese Matrix: One could try to micro-structure the cheese curd in a grid pattern with square channels or cavities before the bacterial fermentation process begins. This structuring could potentially guide the gas to fill these pre-formed square spaces rather than forming spherical bubbles. Advanced food processing technologies, such as 3D food printing or molding, could be employed to create these precise structures.
Controlled Fermentation Chambers: Another approach could involve using a cheese mold with square compartments that are initially separated by very thin, biodegradable, or edible barriers. These barriers could allow the exchange of nutrients and waste products but could constrain the gas to expand within square boundaries. Over time, the pressure might break down these barriers, but if they were designed to degrade or dissolve at a rate matching the gas production, it could potentially lead to square holes.
Genetic Engineering of Bacteria: Engineering the bacteria to produce gas in a delayed, synchronized manner or to cluster in square formations before producing gas might also be a way to achieve square holes. This approach would require significant advances in synthetic biology and a deep understanding of how bacterial behavior can be controlled within the cheese matrix.
Use of Square-Shaped Inclusions: Incorporating square-shaped, edible inclusions that dissolve or are removed after the cheese has matured could also create square holes. These inclusions would need to be made of a material that either dissolves due to the action of the cheese's acidity or enzymes or can be melted and removed without affecting the cheese's integrity.
Each of these methods would face significant challenges, not only in the precision of the structural manipulations required but also in maintaining the quality, taste, and safety of the cheese. The development of such techniques would require interdisciplinary research, including food science, microbiology, materials science, and possibly robotics or nanotechnology. While theoretically intriguing, the practicality and economic viability of producing cheese with square holes would need careful consideration.
This article shows that GPT-4 is more than happy to help with innovative ideas for pretty much any kind of topic. The answers are not super-far-fetched. Let’s see what GPT-5 says when it comes out.
