Cheese is amazing, and anyone who says otherwise
is lying. It's great with wine, perfect on the side
with some crackers, and it can improve almost any savory dish you care to add it to. But not all cheese is equal, and there's some
that you should leave sitting on the shelf in the grocery store. We're talking about cheese that's not good
for your waistline, bad for the environment, exposing you to a high risk of food poisoning,
and one that's even got more in common with foot funk than with anything else in your
fridge. So, which cheese should you be skipping? "HAHA. I just can't ignore the cheese!" Queso fresco Queso fresco is a staple of Mexican cuisine,
but there's a dangerous side to this cheese: it can be a breeding ground for listeria. Both homemade and commercially produced queso
fresco is likely to grow bacteria, and it's been linked to numerous food poisoning outbreaks. Even if you buy and unwrap a perfectly safe
batch of queso fresco, it can easily pick up a contaminant from your home or fridge,
where it doesn't take long for a problem to develop. The CDC recommends pregnant women, people
with compromised immune systems, and the elderly don't eat queso fresco at all, the risk for
listeria is so great. The consequences are serious: it can be fatal,
and has been linked to miscarriages. This is definitely one case where it's better
to be safe than sorry. Mascarpone Mascarpone isn't just a pretty pricey cheese,
it's also about 50 percent fat. That fat content is what makes it an excellent
dessert cheese and thickening agent in savory dishes, but it's also what makes this one
deserving of the unhealthy reputation cheese can have. If you were to eat a single tablespoon of
mascarpone, you'd be eating about 10 percent of your daily allowance of dietary cholesterol
in addition to all that fat. Since most people are trying to lower their
cholesterol, not raise it, that makes being aware of mascarpone's potency pretty important. Fortunately, you can swap out mascarpone for
low-fat ricotta in many dishes, and cream cheese and Greek yogurt are also viable replacements. You can also replace just part of the mascarpone
to keep the flavor and lose some of the bad stuff, and that's good, because there's a
lot of bad stuff. Sheep cheese If you think sheep cheese would be more environmentally
friendly than cow's cheese, you're mistaken. It all comes down to just how much milk and
cheese a sheep can produce. When researchers from MTT Agrifood Research
Finland looked at how much methane was produced by sheep, cows, and goats and compared that
to how much cheese was ultimately produced, they found sheep were the least efficient
of them all. If you want the most environmentally safe
option, go with a goat cheese: not only are they the most efficient animals, but soft
cheeses that haven't been aged for a long time are the best when it comes to energy
consumption as well. Cheddar There's no denying that cheddar is a favorite
cheese, both versatile and delicious. "Of course Cheddar cheese makes all the difference,
Hooray!" But because you can easily eat way more than
a few servings in a single sitting, moderation is key here. It can quickly become bad for you, especially
considering it can contain a huge amount of salt. The Food and Drug Administration recommends
that adults consume no more than one teaspoon of salt per day. When the UK-based specialist group "Consensus
Action on Salt and Health" tested various types of cheeses, they found that while salt
content varied across brands of cheddar, some had a higher concentration of salt than actual
seawater. A single, matchbox-sized serving of cheddar
contained about one-sixth of the recommended daily allotment of salt...and how many of
those servings do you put on your nachos? Skip this one if you can. Velveeta As amazing as Velveeta is in queso dip, you
should still skip it for a few different reasons. A single serving of Velveeta has 80 calories,
which doesn't seem like much. But 50 of those calories come from fat. Now let's put serving sizes in perspective. One ounce is considered a serving of Velveeta,
and there are 16 servings in that block. Given that it's easy to sit and pick away
at a bowl of queso dip all night, you know you're going to be getting more than a single
serving if this one's on the menu. It's also incredibly high in lactose, making
it a problem for not just those who are lactose intolerant, but also those who might be sensitive
to dairy. While milk has between 3.7 and 4.8 percent
lactose, Velveeta has a whopping 9.3 percent. Not only are you going to pack on the fat
and calories, but you're going to feel bad afterwards. Just don't do it! Limburger Even if you can't stand the idea of limburger,
you probably know someone who loves nothing more than putting some on a sandwich, and
grossing out everyone else in the room. Fortunately for you haters, science is on
your side. If you're having a picnic and want to keep
the mosquitoes away, put some limburger out away from the party. The mosquitoes will choose the limburger over
you, and that's because they think it's an extra-strong version of what they're attracted
to in people: bacterial foot funk. Researchers at a Dutch university have found
that the bacteria that turns limburger into, well, limburger is the same genus of bacteria
that's between your toes. It grows when cheese makers wash the outside
of the cheeses with water, which then nurtures the bacteria in the same way our sweaty feet
do. That doesn't explain why some people love
it, but if you hate it, there's your scientific explanation as to why it's gross. You're welcome.
