Why Chipotle's Cheese Grater Is Causing A Happy Stir On TikTok
The original Chipotle Mexican Grill may have begun its life as the backup plan for founder Steven Ells, but the popular fast casual restaurant has become its own success story (via CNBC). After the company went public in 2006, it quickly expanded, and in only a few years would become known for its outstanding service and the unique values of the company that make the food so delicious.
According to Chipotle's values, it prioritizes "real ingredients" that are made by hand every day by their suppliers and turned into the restaurant's bounty of offerings. It doesn't hurt that these "real" offerings make for some surprisingly healthy menu options, but where it really makes a difference is in the taste.
One factor of this operation style that has some fans pleasantly surprised is the origins of Chipotle's cheese. One restaurant employee recently took to social media to share the process that they go through every day to make sure that the fresh, delicious cheese makes it into your burrito.
How Chipotle grates its cheese
One of the great things about social media is that it has given common folks an inside look at their favorite restaurants. Sometimes it's finding out what the employees there like to eat, but sometimes it's as mundane as finding out how they grate their cheese.
A TikTok video showing just that has caused a stir on social media. In the video, Chipotle employee Daniela Morales shows that all of Chipotle's cheese comes to the store in giant blocks. Those blocks are then broken down into smaller blocks using a wire cheese cutter and fed into a grating machine. Morales says that this process takes a long time depending on the restaurant's cheese needs for the day, but says it's actually one of her favorite tasks to perform at work.
Some commenters used the video as a space to show their appreciation for this freshly prepared cheese. "I knew it was too good to come pre shredded. Thank you for your service." wrote one commenter.
Morales claims that breaking down the large blocks and shredding each of them takes a long time. In the comments, she adds that it's one of the items that the restaurant won't hold overnight either. That means that this process is done at every store, every day, so its patrons can have fresh cheese. Is pre-shredded cheese really bad enough to justify this kind of labor though?
Pre-shredded vs. block cheese
Opting for pre-shredded cheese over those burdensome blocks makes a lot of sense for convenience's sake. I mean how many people know how to properly clean a cheese grater, let alone how to actually use one. There are also very few things more unappetizing than the chance that you'll grate a bit off your knuckles.
Reader's Digest argues that if you're worried about taste, melting ability, and getting the most for your money, you'll want to go with block cheese. The reason for this is that manufacturers like to use anti-caking agents to coat individual strands of cheese. Substances like cellulose are often used to prevent the cheese from getting stuck together. However, this coating can sometimes give off a chalky flavor, and also lowers the value of your cheese. Because you don't know how much cellulose is being used, buying 8 ounces of shredded cheese means you're buying less cheese than a solid 8-ounce block.
XO & So adds that other preservatives are also added to pre-shredded cheese that can affect flavor. Potato Starch is great for crisping up fried foods, but it will affect your cheese's ability to become melty, stringy, and appetizing. According to the Proudly Cheese Wisconsin, Monterey jack cheese like that used by Chipotle is well regarded for its meltability, and so it makes sense that it wouldn't want to compromise that just for convenience.