why does cheese that was suspended into a soup (e.g., parmesan in minestrone or the cheeses in French onion) stick to everything (spoon, bowl) in clumps and get thick but not in a soup like cheddar broccoli soup?

Question

What causes it the sticking/clumping? Is it cheese type specific? Soup base specific? Is there a specific chemical reaction?

It’s my limited understanding that almost all cheeses start the same (the same bacteria that causes body odor and rennet) and you get different types of cheese based on how it’s aged/finished.

Edit: solved. It’s a case of having emulsification or not in the soup. This article does a good job explaining the process: [https://www.seriouseats.com/food-lab-broccoli-cheddar-cheese-soup](https://www.seriouseats.com/food-lab-broccoli-cheddar-cheese-soup)

In: Other

Answer 1

Cheddar broccoli soup is really broccoli in a cheese sauce. A white sauce is flavored with cheese and blended smooth, then the broccoli is added and cooked. That’s a completely different process than dropping slices of cheese onto the top of your french onion soup.