this post was submitted on 21 Feb 2026
422 points (98.8% liked)
Funny
13846 readers
1372 users here now
General rules:
- Be kind.
- All posts must make an attempt to be funny.
- Obey the general sh.itjust.works instance rules.
- No politics or political figures. There are plenty of other politics communities to choose from.
- Don't post anything grotesque or potentially illegal. Examples include pornography, gore, animal cruelty, inappropriate jokes involving kids, etc.
Exceptions may be made at the discretion of the mods.
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
something about pasteurization, only doing it too much or freeze-drying or something. shelf stability has come a remarkable distance in the last 100 years. idk what method they use as i'm not involved in their manufacturing and am only an amateur food scientist.
I get that, but I don't think I've ever seen long term shelve stable cheese at room temperature. Maybe crackers with cheese or something similar, but never plain cheese.
it's the powdered parmesan. i can't explain it. like this shit has a bad rap, but it's just cheese

i think you're supposed to refrigerate after you open it, but before you open it it's stable.
It's 90% cheese, like 10% sand/sawdust.
when they did the sawdust test, kraft was the only one that came out all cheese. seems kind of counterintuitive because they are the stereotypical cheap cheese. which makes me wonder, but y'know, they have the money to build the facilities to do the freeze dry and all that without having to add the sawdust, and the smaller cheeseries don't necessarily, so it makes sense.
this stuff is basically the result of military tests on shelf stability in the 1950s. it's why the flavor ain't great. but it'll last