Posted on 12/13/2012 1:25:42 PM PST by Diana in Wisconsin
POLK COUNTY, WI (WCCO) – Melting ice and snow off the roads has created an unlikely partnership in one Wisconsin County.
A local cheese plant is teaming up with the Polk County highway department to produce a brine they say works like a charm.
In Moe Norby’s office, you might think you’re in the chemistry lab. Plastic bottles and jugs containing various liquids are spread out on top of his filing cabinets.
Lifting a bottle of liquid, Norby said, “the cheese whey itself froze at a lower point than regular salt brine.”
Four years ago, the Polk County highway manager began experimenting with an unusual waste product from a nearby cheese plant. What he stumbled on is sending road engineers running for the mozzarella.
“It’s a win-win for both us and the dairy,” said Norby. “They get rid of their waste product and we get it for free, for just the trucking costs.”
No Whey!
Wasn’t this the plot of a bad Steve Martin movie?
I believe they used old cheese to destroy Terre Haute, Indiana or something.
Wasn’t this the plot of a bad Steve Martin movie?
I believe they used old cheese to destroy Terre Haute, Indiana or something.
Do they cut the cheese first?? bada-bing!
We are not aMooosed.
However, too many mice coming to dine can get slippery.
Whey cool!
Actually, whey is largely bio-degradable, and has a somewhat lower salt concentration than a brine solution, which ends up in the road ditches and kills many forms of vegetation as the salt accumulates.
Whey has been one of the lower-value by-products of cheese production, and for years, it was something of a problem for cheese factories to get rid of the stuff, as it was considered a major pollutant of fishing streams, and while it could be mixed with dry swine feed to make “hog slop”, even the pigs soon got their fill. It has been dried down to powder to make a high-protein concentrate, and is sold that way for body-builders, and the dried powder also makes its way into candy-making, but the costs of transportation and drying have gotten so high the value is no longer there.
South central Wisconsin (I-90 from Beloit to Madison) got little more than a flurry eatly this week. There were still numerous accidents, causing me to spend an hour on 10 miles of beltline in Madison.
The brine didn’t seem to change that.
Well, at least we got Terre Haute!
They used to salt the streets here. Now they use some form of liquid.
It will eat your car. Literally.
OMG thats FUNNY, great comeback. ROFl Very clever
Merry Christmas, cheesehead...
;-)
The brine didn’t seem to change that.
LOL, come on now, you're just complaining because it's "Nacho Cheese", so you're not getting a slice of the profits.
Thanks! The same to You and Yours! :)
Hi, Pete! Been busy with my new duties at work and life in general, but I’m carving out more time for some fun here on FR! :)
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