Swiss cheese why does it have holes

Terms Privacy Policy. All rights reserved. Do you like Swiss cheese? Leave a comment. Suggest a correction. Parchment, Wax And Freezer Paper. So as the bacteria grow, the gases they emit end up creating round openings. Think of blowing a bubble with chewing gum: As you blow air from your lungs, the pressure forces the gum into a circle.

The bubble eventually pops, due to air pressure from your lungs or the atmosphere. Why does Swiss cheese have holes? Also called 'eyes', they're so essential to Swiss cheese that when they're missing, the cheesemakers say the batch is 'blind'. But when a bubble has formed inside a hunk of warm cheese — and then that cheese is cooled to around 4.

The cheese now has its eyes. It takes about four weeks at 21 degrees Celsius for the eyes to form. In total, it takes about six weeks to make Swiss cheese, and then it is aged two additional months before it is sold. Swiss cheese was first made in Switzerland in the 15th century. But there, it's known as " emmental " or " emmentaler ".

Other countries are also known for cheeses that are similar to Swiss cheese. France has Gruyere , while Italy has Fontina. In the US, cheesemakers concoct a modified version, called Baby Swiss, which tends to have smaller eyes. Gouda cheese — which originated in the Netherlands — is sometimes intentionally made with cultures that produce a little bit of gas and tiny eyes.

Stephanie Clark is a Virginia M. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Agroscope, a Swiss agricultural institute, believes that tiny specks of hay are responsible for the holes in Swiss cheese. When cheese is made in barns using buckets, there is a likelihood of hay particulates making it into the buckets of collected milk, which then cause holes to form in the cheese as it ages. It is these specks of hay that cause a weakness in the structure of the curd, allowing gas to form and create the "eyes.

Whereas William Mansfield Clark used glass cylinders and mercury to create an apparatus to capture gasses and develop his theory, Agroscope used a CT scanner, following the cheese ripening process for days. The cheese-making community has believed that hay has been the culprit all along, and now they have scientific proof.

Due to the modernization of dairy farms, however, Swiss cheese may not have as many eyes as it used to. As milking methods have become more automated and antiseptic, and fewer hay particles drop into the milk, the size of the holes have decreased and the number of holes in Swiss cheeses, such as Appenzeller and Emmental, have declined. You Don't Have the Hole Story. So as the bacteria grow, the gases they emit end up creating round openings.

Think of blowing a bubble with chewing gum: As you blow air from your lungs, the pressure forces the gum into a circle. The bubble eventually pops, due to air pressure from your lungs or the atmosphere. The cheese now has its eyes. In total, it takes about six weeks to make Swiss cheese, and then it is aged two additional months before it is sold.

Swiss cheese was first made in Switzerland in the 15th century. Other countries are also known for cheeses that are similar to Swiss cheese. France has Gruyere , while Italy has Fontina. In the U. Gouda cheese — which originated in the Netherlands — is sometimes intentionally made with cultures that produce a little bit of gas and tiny eyes.