I never bought pre-shredded cheese again.
The Hidden Ingredient: Cellulose (And Why It Ruins Your Melting Game)
Turns out, pre-shredded cheese isn’t just cheese.
Flip over the bag and check the ingredients — you’ll often see:
Potato starch
Calcium sulfate
And yes — cellulose
Wait — cellulose ?
As in… wood pulp?
Yes — but not literally sawdust.
Cellulose is a plant-based fiber (often from wood or cotton) added to shredded cheese to:
Prevent clumping
Absorb moisture
Keep the shreds separate in the bag
It’s FDA-approved and safe to eat — no danger there.
But here’s the problem:
It doesn’t melt .
And when you heat up cheese full of anti-caking agents?
You get:
Greasy oil pooling around the edges
Cheesy clumps that won’t blend in
A grainy, uneven texture
Perfect for sprinkling cold on a salad.
Terrible for anything warm.
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