Niyah's Glamorously Gooey Grilled cheese Sandwiches
The Science Behind Grilled Cheese
cheeses have different pH levels and this is because cheeses have different amounts of H+ free atoms floating around. To increase or decrease the amount of H+ atoms cheesemakers will simply add more or less acid into the cheese, which has plenty H+ atoms into. The pH is just a number used to determine and simplify the number of H+ atoms floating freely into the cheese. Chemist have come up with a scale to determine pH and have come up with the fact that the lower the pH the higher the acidity and the higher the pH the lower the acidity
Two things happen when cheese melts. First, at about 90℉, the cheese will soften because the milk fat inside of the cheese is liquefying and little particles of melted fat become visible at the surface. While the temperature is rising, the bonds holding together the casein proteins break, causing the cheese to collapse into a thick gooey substance. Here is the catch: the melting will only occur certain temperatures for different cheeses and the texture of their gooeyness is all based on their acidity or pH. For example, Cheeses high in acid become stringy when melted. Cheeses that mainly contain acid do not really melt at all. The acid dissolves the calcium glue that normally holds cheese together, these cheeses that have tons of acid are held together by the casein proteins binding to one another in clumps. When cheeses are heated, the protein bonds tighten, forcing out all of the water. As the water evaporates, there is not enough moisture left inside of the cheese to allow it to liquefy. 
According to sources the "perfect-to-melt" cheese has a pH between 5.3-.5.5
Experiment and Results
The independent variable was the different cheeses with different pH levels. Everything else with the 3 different sandwiches remained the same.
Instructions
1.Preheat buttered pan to 4 for 2 minutes
2.Place bread in pan
3.After 3 minutes put sandwich together
4.Place more butter in pan
5.Flip the sandwich and add more butter
6.Let the sandwich stand in the pan for 1 more minute
7.Take out and enjoy
*This procedure was done 3 times with 3 different cheeses. The same way and in the same order.
Trial 1
 |
| This sandwich was made with sharp cheddar cheese which had an approximate pH of 5.1-5.4. The sandwich came out nicely toasted with just the right amount of gooeyness. The taste was great nothing was wrong it tasted like the typical delicious grilled cheese that I always make |
 |
This sandwich was made with Swiss cheese which has an approximate pH of 5.5-5.7. This sandwich was harder to witness the chemistry going on with just the naked eye. However, the bread of this sandwich burned quicker. There was no flavor in this sandwich and actually was harder to enjoy with so much gooeyness.
|
 |
| For the last sandwich I used Colby Jack cheese because it has a pH of 5.0-5.2. Which is well below the "perfect" pH level of well-to-melt cheese. My results were very interesting, this cheese was the gooiest of them all and it was so uncomfortable to eat. I also noticed that this sandwich burned even faster, which is still so awkward because it was the same bread from the first trial. |
Conclusion
All in all it is safe to say that all the different cheeses went through this process at different rates because of their pH. At the end of making each sandwich they were all different. The sharp cheddar cheese had the least amount of gooeyness because it had just the right amount of casein strand and calcium to lose and still have enough to melt nicely. The Swiss sandwich had lots of gooeyness because the pH was far above the average “good to melt pH balance”. The acid made the casein micelles attract to each other, but all this attraction is too much though, it causes them to not melt well and actually be too bonded together and that's what you saw in the photo. The Colby jack cheese, the other hand, which had the least acidity was suppose to have no calcium and it was suppose to prevent the cheese from melting and stretching, but in this case it did the complete opposite. As you look at the pictures you can see that the cheese with the “best to melt” pH balance sandwich not only tasted the best or had the right amount of gooeyness but it also had the best amount of crunch. The Swiss and the Colby Jack sandwich both came out burnt, Which is strange because I cooked all three sandwiches for the same amount of time, with the same amount of butter, and the same type of bread. However I can say that this could possibly be related to the pH as well. Maybe the cheeses did not melt the way they were supposed to but what should've happened to the cheese happened to the bread. In conclusion the pH level of cheese does really determine the gooeyness of cheese. However, there are other possibilities in this experiment that could explain these results as well with a further investigation.
Comments
Post a Comment