News Physics

Physicists explain how cheese rosettes form

Flowery curls of Tête de Moine result from variations in the friction between the blade and the cheese 

A utensil called a girolle with a wheel of cheese, likely tête de moine, with the post of the girolle going through its center and a blade that rotates around the post, which has scraped off a frilly rosette

The cheese known as Tête de Moine is served by scraping it with a rotating blade to form rosettes (pictured). The shapes form because the friction between the blade and the cheese's rind is lower than the friction in the center of the wheel, physicists report.

Juergen Pfeiffer/imageBROKER/Getty Images Plus

By Emily Conover

The Swiss cheese known as Tête de Moine or “monk’s head” is served in a peculiar fashion.