Last week I scored my first drug deal. Well...<i>technically</i> it wasn't a drug deal. <i>Technically</i>..there weren't any drugs involved at all. To quote Wiki, <i>drugs</i> imply <i>"a substance that has a physiological effect when ingested or otherwise introduced into the body."</i> In my world, that's the definition of chocolate.

In a non-darkened, non-backstreet, non-ghetto, non-alley, there was a mutually beneficial exchange of chemicals for cookies. I bartered a batch of "Hazelnuts Raised to the Fourth Power Cookies" for an ounce of Trisodium Citrate, a derivative of citric acid >> Street Name: Sodium Citrate.

Go ahead. Arrest me.

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Sodium citrate is currently popular in molecular gastromony circles to spherify pureed food. Mine was used to make a lovely melty cheese dip...something like creamy Velveeta dip, but without every other chemical in the Periodic Table.

<b>KRAFT Velvetta Pasteurized Process Cheese Spread:</b>
Ingredients:
NONFAT MILK AND MILKFAT, WHEY, MILK PROTEIN CONCENTRATE, MILK, SODIUM PHOSPHATE, MALTODEXTRIN, CONTAINS LESS THAN 2% OF SALT, WHEY PROTEIN CONCENTRATE, CALCIUM PHOSPHATE, LACTIC ACID, SORBIC ACID AS A PRESERVATIVE, SODIUM ALGINATE, CITRIC ACID, SODIUM CITRATE, CHEESE CULTURE, ENZYMES, APOCAROTENAL AND ANNATTO (COLOR).

Yum.

<b>**Gooey, Melty REAL Cheese Dip**</b>
3 Cups of grated cheese
1/4 C beer
7 grams of sodium citrate (1/4 ounce, ~ 1.5 tsp)

[that's it!]

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DO NOT USE pre-grated cheese as it has "other" stuff added to it. I used 2 cups of grated Cabot Sharp Cheddar and 1 Cup of Pepperjack Cheese.

Warm beer and dissolve sodium citrate.
Add grated cheese and stir to melt.
Use a stick blender to emulsify.

Dip will reharden fairly quickly, so a water bath is recommended if you want to keep the cheese fluid for any length of time.

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It took longer to grate the cheese than to melt it. As it cools, the dip will reharden into a solid mass. I simply added a bit of water and zapped it in the microwave to thin it out again.