Swiss.....Cheese.....Holes

You walk to your local Subway restaurant....you pick out a foot-long veggie max on Honey Oat Bread, and you are asked...would you like some cheese on it? You say yes...Swiss please...and out comes sliced swiss cheese with the trademark holes....

So what do you think caused the holes? Did someone sit there and poke holes into the blocks of cheese prior to shipping? You wish! Well actually it turns out, someone did sit and poke holes in it..well, not exactly holes, but air bubbles which became the source of the holes in swiss cheese.

Yes, the very same bacteria that contribute to the fermentation of milk to cheese, are the culprits behind these holes. Turns out, three types of bacteria are added to the fermentation process. Lactic acid, an interim by-product of the fermentation process, is consumed by one of the bacteria - a certain Propionibacter Shermani, or P. Shermani for short (awfully close to P.Sherman of the P.Sherman, 42 Wallaby Way Sydney (Finding Nemo) fame aint it?). Result of the consumption of lactic acid? Carbon di-oxide, which gets trapped inside the fermenting milk and ends up as air bubbles that contribute to the holes.

To put it crudely, the eyes (as the Swiss call it) are a result of certain bacteria passing gas!

Bon apetit....