Hello. Welcome to my mouth.
I've got chronically worn tooth-enamel from drinking too much coca- cola as a child and too much wine and cider as a (supposed) adult. I'm only 27, but my gnashers have worn down to approximately half their length. This is rubbish. What's more rubbish is the diet constrictions that I am going to be forced to adopt in order to stem this erosion, ergo, no more wine, no more cake, no more fizzy drinks, no more anything nice.
For their effects, you may have seen a healthy tooth (albeit one devoid of human host) dropped into a glass of coke and watched it rot in front of your eyes. This is due to the extremely high acid and sugar levels in the drink, which remain in your mouth for some time after consumption. In clinical tests, however, a little block of cheese completely neutralises the pH value in your mouth within seconds, rendering it a thoroughly pleasant place to be for a tooth.
This simple idea is to form a business that sells assorted hard cheeses in small blocks, the same size as Fruit-Tellas, Toffos or Chewits (naming a selection in the hope that at least US and Antipodean bakers will know what I'm on about), individually wrapped and in a tube pack. These could then be popped in the mouth when down the pub after a rum and coke or whathaveyou to prevent your face falling out.
The product would be marketed specifically to this purpose, but will not disregard the purely cheese-loving community, by including a tasty assortment, including parmesan, manchego and other hard cheeses that won't melt in your pocket.
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Disclaimer: I am aware that cheese is not a new invention, nor is this particular method of packaging, but I thought the practical application, coupled with a focused marketing approach, might be worth posting as an original idea.-- theleopard, Aug 03 2009 Single block http://www.flickr.c...couppas/3036943236/(This was the only picture I could find of an individual sweet of this type.) [theleopard, Aug 03 2009] The full pack http://www.thechoco...ngle_strawberry.jpgCheeseits [theleopard, Aug 03 2009] Saran http://en.wikipedia...iki/Saran_(plastic)Handy in the kitchen [8th of 7, Aug 03 2009] SARIN http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SarinNot handy in the kitchen (but does kill insects). [8th of 7, Aug 03 2009] SARI http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SariA wrap, but for cheese? [shudderprose, Aug 03 2009] precut, not individually wrapped http://www.sargento...heese-cubes-snacks/ [dentworth, Aug 04 2009] Moose Milk http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MoosemilkOnce tasted, never remebered. Nothing remembered of the evening at all .... [8th of 7, Aug 04 2009] Cheddar Cider http://www.thatcher...aught/cheddarvally/Looks radioactive. [theleopard, Aug 05 2009] <proffers [21] a sugar lump and pats him on the head>-- po, Aug 03 2009 //Afterword, the wax is fun to roll into a ball and play with!// - Can you not eat the wax too? ..... then use the plastic pulltab to pick out the bits that get stuck in your teeth?-- xenzag, Aug 03 2009 (marked-for-tagline)
" I am aware that cheese is not a new invention "-- normzone, Aug 03 2009 I thought this was going to be a cheese liquor. For no reason other than I want a cheese liquor.-- daseva, Aug 03 2009 // saran //
[IT], The chemical used on the Tokyo underground was "Sarin". Saran is a proprietary name for a food safe wrapping product in the USA <links>-- 8th of 7, Aug 03 2009 Reminds me of the (not so topical joke) Q: Why don't the KGB eat sushi? A: Because it has ricin. (Referencing Georgi Markov's assassination by umbrella and the later Itsu incident involving Alexander Litvinenko)-- zen_tom, Aug 04 2009 This was about cheese and teeth, now it's about biological poisons and the KGB. 'Tis the wonders of the bakery, tangentially speaking.
[21], we have those too, they're called BabyBel here. They'd do the job I suppose, but they're a bit too big to be having one after every acidic drink I enjoy down the pub. Plus, these are much more subtle, looking as they do like conventional chews.
I appreciate I'm frighteningly close to an "it's x only smaller" idea (which is why I haven't posted it for a long time) but I'm championing the product's marketing, which would set it apart from other small (albeit not small enough) cheese products by advertising its dental benefits.
However, I don't expect this idea to tear the bakery apart with its sheer bodacity either.-- theleopard, Aug 04 2009 This could be done with a cheese cigarette. Just bite the end off to get a small dose of acid neutralising cheese.-- hippo, Aug 04 2009 Cheese is best kept unrefrigerated, but ideally in cool, moist conditions.-- hippo, Aug 04 2009 ...and sanitary, it must be very sanitary...-- blissmiss, Aug 04 2009 Surely the elegant solution is a soluble cheese which can be added to acidic drinks, thereby delivering problem and remedy all at the same time?-- MaxwellBuchanan, Aug 04 2009 // soluble cheese //
Yes, it's called "milk", [MB]. Please, do try to keep up with the rest of the class.
Maybe you should switch to Moose Milk, [lep]
<link>-- 8th of 7, Aug 04 2009 Actually, in parts of Somerset, the local cider/scrumpy was so acidic that most locals would have lost most of their teeth by quite a young age. It became traditional to put a disc or cube of local cheese in the bottom of the mug (or in the earthenware flagon), which the drinker would eat after consuming the cider.
In a flagon, the cheese would turn hard and brittle by the time the drink was finished, and this is the origin of the expression "hard cheese", in the sense of "tough luck" - ie, the cider had all gone, and all that was left was the hardened cheese.-- MaxwellBuchanan, Aug 04 2009 Hang on....let me check.-- MaxwellBuchanan, Aug 04 2009 Ah yes, you're right. It seems that the entire cheese/cider thing was complete bollocks. Well, I'll be damned.-- MaxwellBuchanan, Aug 04 2009 Or just wear cheese dentures.-- hippo, Aug 05 2009 "Eat your own teeth" ? Bizarre .....-- 8th of 7, Aug 05 2009 [bigsleep], he had me going as well.
As for Thatchers, I've tried a cheddar cider at a folk festival in my home town. It's the drink that's only consumed when all your taste buds have been systematically eradicated by prior alcohol, and not only because of its fluorescent orange gleam, but due mostly to the fact that it tastes like rotting badger phlegm (I presume).
Same stuff as [linky]?-- theleopard, Aug 05 2009 Yes. Colloquilally known as "suicider".-- 8th of 7, Aug 05 2009 //Cheese is best kept unrefrigerated, but ideally in cool, moist conditions//As they say on message boards, ^^^this. The notion of removing from one's pocket, at least one pint or wine into a pub afternoon, an apparent Chewit that, when carefully unwrapped reveals itself to be a greasy, somewhat mushed and doubtless more than marginally stinky cube of cheese sets my throat agag. There are two social risks here. One is that your peers and co-pubbers, being aware of the cheese-tella invention, consider you to be upsetting and queer for purchasing said product. The other is that your p and c-ps are unaware of the product and leap justifiably to the conclusion that you are the sort of person who either cubes cheese at home or robs it from cocktail sticks at desperate 70s themed suburban parties and, in either case, diligently wrap the cubes in slightly waxy paper, storing them in yr pockets for the moment that they are most deliciously comestible, such time being, as far as they can see, when the appeal of the cheese-cube has reached its nadir. Ostracision will surely follow.
The first issue can be solved with marketing. The second issue, the chese-sweat issue is, yes, not an issue for the largely pocketless portion of The People who are or consider themselves to be women, but it is certainly urgent and key for the pocketed be-cocked. So the important thing is to eliminate the impact of pocket-warmth upon the packet of Cheese-tella. One solution would be for men to carry handbags. This is itself problematic. While rampant skinny-trousering has made inroads in this regard of late, there is a limit to the subset of males who will rock a bag. So what is needed is a Cheese-tella holster, either worn about the neck like a portable spitoon or, for those who favour oatmeal coloured slacks and short-sleeved shirts, some sort of belt-clip, perhaps positioned to offset the weight of the blackberry or phone holster already sported. For the rest of us, well maybe we can pull the cheese around behind us in a little refridgerated cart. I don't know.-- calum, Aug 05 2009 Very good points, I confess. In winter I'd keep mine in my coat's inside pocket, a cool dry place that receives little warmth in comparison to the sweat-oven of the trouser pocket, and items within generally retain their structural integrity. However, a different solution is required for the summertime (of Will Smith fame).
Hows about a mini thermos? Marketed alongside the cheeses, It would be the size of a short cigar container - refillable, compact, safe and cool in your otherwise squeezed, humid, cheese-adverse pocket.-- theleopard, Aug 06 2009 random, halfbakery