Why does cheese form flowers when scraped?

Tête de Moine cheese.
| Photo Credit: Tête de Moine AOP, Fromage de Bellelay

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The Tête de Moine cheese from the Bellelay region of Switzerland is iconic because of the way it is served. This semi-hard cheese ideally shouldn’t be cut: instead, it’s scraped and served. If that sounds crude, it isn’t: when the cheese is scraped, it automatically forms rosettes, which are then served.

Scientists have now figured out the physics of how the scraping action creates the floral shape.

In a study set to be published in the journal Physical Review Letters, researchers at the University of Paris found that when Tête de Moine is scraped, the slice’s inner portion shrinks more than the outer one, making it wrinkle naturally into the shape of a rose. Friction, it seems, plays a starring role in this process.

The regulators of Tête de Moine cheese already know this paring technique allows the cheese to better release its flavours as well because the technique increases the amount of air meeting the cheese’s surface.

According to the study’s preprint paper, frilly edges like those in this cheese are also seen among some leaves, fungi, and corals as well as in torn plastic sheets. The shapes are the result of uneven stretching leading to bending and wrinkling.

Traditionally, the cheese is cut using a tool called girolle. For the experiment, scientists controlled the cutting action by fixing the blade in place and rotating the cheese at a constant speed. They used cheese of the Fromagerie de Bellelay brand aged for three to six months, cut it in half.

The team found that the rosette is formed when the cheese stretches and shrinks from the centre to the edge when it is cut.

This process — the act of irreversibly changing the shape of an object or a material by applying some kind of force — is called plastic shearing. It happens in Tête de Moine due to friction from the blade. It’s similar to what happens when metal chips are cut, but they don’t change shape because they’re stiffer. A wheel of cheese on the other hand is more pliant.

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Published – May 21, 2025 02:29 pm IST

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