Wisconsin Applies Cheese Theory To Icy Roads, Wins At Winter
Work with what you've got, right? And in case you hadn't heard, the state of Wisconsin has a lot of brine (a liquid by-product of cheesemaking) and icy roads. Several years ago a highway employee had the brilliant idea to combine the two problems into one solution that saved Polk County $40,000 in rock salt.
It turns out, cheese brine melts ice more effectively than rock salt brine, which tends to freeze in Wisconsin's sub-zero temperatures. Not so with cheese brine — it remains liquid until an impressive 21 degrees below, making it the perfect product to have in excess with no other apparent use. I mean you're not going to brine the cheese again, right?
There is one small drawback (if you can even call it that): treated roads tend to smell slightly of fresh mozzarella. But if you can't find the humor in that, you should probably live in another state.
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