Eerie grated cheese that will not melt on a jacket potato

[The13thFairy]

I bought Sainsbury's Grated Four Cheese Mix to grace a jacket potato. Imagine my surprise and shock when the cheese resolutely refused to melt gracefully and just sat there, colourfully. I squished some of it into the hot potato with a fork but the cheese still refused to soften.

This country is going to the dogs. Agree?

Pre grated cheese has a coating on it that stops it clumping together depending on the coating sometimes it also stops it melting well.

YABU to buy pre-grated cheese - it is treated with some kind of anti-caking agent to stop it clumping together in the pack. That's why it won't melt into anything satisfyingly oozy and stringy. Grate your own cheese in future.

Yes, it has a coating on. Bleurgh. I only use proper cheese and grate it myself. It's not like it takes long!

i use Cathedral City grated mature cheddar, that melts ok

As people have said, grated cheese is coated. I have seen lots of recipes that involve grated cheese (e.g. fondue) specifying you should not use pre-grated as it won’t work.

I love the taste of pre-grated cheese on a baked potato. It just doesn't taste like anything else and has the consistency of rubber.😆

Thing is, I read on the pack that potato starch was used as an anti-clumping agent, but didn't realise it would have an anti-melting effect. I dunno, 5 mins older and so much wiser. I'll grate my own in future.

I've never bought grated cheese

but a lot of cheese has changed consistency now. There have been threads about it in the past.

so I'm not sure if it makes any difference to buy grated.

I just stick mine in the microwave for 30 seconds for this exact reason.

I always buy grated cheese as I just cannot be bothered spending time grating it and it melts fine. That’s from Tesco though. Maybe it’s the mix that doesn’t melt?

I bought the cathedral city cheddar grated cheese , but I got the wrong one it was a plant based one the smell was so intense it stunk the house out (BEWARE)

I live and learn!

I used to sometimes buy grated cheese because I can’t be trusted with a block of cheese for convenience. But I stopped for this costing reason.

It's the potato stuff on the cheese, won't melt. For melting I just get the mid brand cheddar.

I always buy grated cheddar (because I inevitably grate a knuckle or a finger nail if I grate it myself ), and it's fine in a fondue. It melts beautifully and the potato starch acts as a stabiliser and reduces the risk of splitting.

Why do you think charlatans like Spudman put it under red hot beans?

Wow! I did not know that about pre-grated cheese!

Now I know why the tasteless (except for being almost sweet?!) uniformly grated cheese on top of baked potatoes from not-amazing cafes doesn’t melt!!!

I had that in a pub recently, ordered jacket spud and cheese because I thought it couldn't be that bad but the bloody cheese wouldn't melt. I had no idea why. Thank you.

I buy a block of cheddar and grate the whole thing with my KitchenAid attachment then freeze it in a zip lock bag.

I've got a big slab of aldi cheap cheddar that doesn't seem to melt well

Was it a particularly scuzzy pub?

Sorry coating reason.

Oh no! I have just bought some, for the first time in my life, to use for baked potatoes for a lunch I'm hosting tomorrow. I just wanted time saver! Bum!

I'm not in the UK but any pre-grated cheese I've used has always melted.

Reminds me of my vegan cheese