Bonus question, its it just a specific type of cheese, or is it possible to make stringy versions of other types, like swiss or cheddar?
In: Chemistry
String cheese is mozzarella that has been heated and then stretched and pulled, similar to pulling taffy.
This repeated stretching creates the stringiness.
Mozzarella is the only cheese that will naturally form a stringy texture this way.
What I understand, cheeses like mozzarella are the only ones that can do this. So really pretty much mozzarella.
Mozzarella is really stretchy and all the milk proteins hold on to each other in a way that they can stretch. when pushed through an extruder they all line up but still stick to each other so they form the string like structures.
There are lots of videos and articles about how it works. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Sl2den0QVrA
String cheese forms a grain like wood because when it is processed, the proteins align either by pulling the cheese or by boiling it. String cheese sold in the United States is primarily mozzarella with cheddar. String cheeses are usually white, but from country to country they are different cheeses and milk source varies from cow to sheep to goat.
String cheese is NOT made by stretching and pulling it like rope, although that technique works for turning mozzarella into string cheese at home.
What actually happens in a dairy plant (or creamery) is that mozzarella curds are heated in hot water until they are soft, then rolled through an auger. This process, plus the heat, helps to naturally align the proteins into that stringy consistency, although the strings are NOT yet aligned in a single direction.
The next step is to push the cheese through an extruder, which is basically like a high-pressured playdoh machine. Since the massive volume of cheese gets squeezed into long, thin tubes, *most* of the strings end up aligned after it comes out of the extruder.
Finally, the pieces are cut into shorter lengths and packaged.
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