Here's How A Cheese Pull Works

Cheese is a tasty addition to any recipe. It's in soups, casseroles, desserts, and, of course, sandwiches, which are loved for their gooey, cheesy interiors. The way the cheese stretches in your grilled cheese sandwich is known as its pull. Cheese pull competitions are entire contests dedicated to stretching the limits. During these competitions, chefs battle to see who can make the stretchiest cheese.

One such competition takes place at a festival in a small village called Aubrac, located in South Central France, known as the Fete' De Laguiole. A construction hoist is required to raise the stretched cheese next to a giant ruler to measure how far it stretches. The chef whose cheese stretches the highest without breaking takes home the prize. This competition is just one of many cheese and dairy-themed events at the two-day long festival, including a live cow milking and local crafters market. Festivals like the one in Aubrac take cheese pulling to the extreme, but the science behind the ideal cheese pull is a simple chemical compound called sodium citrate. 

Sodium citrate is the sodium salt of citric acid. It is used as a flavoring and anticoagulant and is the ingredient that makes Velveeta cheese so easy to melt. Food-grade sodium citrate powder is sold in stores as a flavor enhancer and a natural food preservative. It can be added to cheeses that don't melt well to increase their pull. Different types of cheese already have a natural pull to them depending on the type of animal's milk the cheese is made from. Mozzarella Madame KC is a local chef in Kansas City who prefers to use buffalo's milk mozzarella cheese curds to get the best pull from her cheese. This is because Buffalo's milk cheese has a higher fat content than cow's milk and is more elastic. She hosts a cheese-pulling event called the Troost Side Mozzarella Mingle that pulls the community together through cheese-pulling.

If you're making cheese for pulling at home, you can add store-bought food-grade sodium citrate to make it stretchy. The sodium citrate powder must be dissolved in warm water to liquify before you add it to your cheese product. To make a grilled cheese sandwich with an impressive pull, start with a common American slice and add more cheese. There's no such thing as too much cheese — and the stretchier it is, the better it will be for pulling our taste buds in.