All About CheesePrint this Page
Over the years we've been asked many questions about cheese. In the shop, we love to work one-on-one with our customers to share our passion and knowledge. In this section, we attempt to provide a taste of that passion and knowledge for our internet customers. If you have questions about cheese that you don't see answered here, feel free to send us an email and we'll do our best to get you an answer.
A Brief History
Cheese production came after the domestication of farm animals somewhere around 5,000 B.C. Without specific archeological evidence to support the exact where, when and how, the best guess is that regular consumption of milk inevitably involved some milk spoilage which by necessity would still be eaten and perhaps even enjoyed as some of the first "spoiled-milk" cheese.
The next step in cheese history is typically told by a simple story of a nomad crossing the desert with a bag of milk. The bag, made from the stomach of a young goat or sheep, would have had the enzyme rennin in its lining which, when jostled around with the milk in the warm environment would soon produce a mixture of curds and whey. Upon reaching his destination, the nomad opened his bag and was surprised to find a solid white mass of curd floating in a yellowish pool of whey.
Over time, with a bit of curiosity and investigation, the amazing transformation that had taken place in that bag would be understood, controlled and refined to allow our ancestors to make a tasty and nutritious food product that could be preserved for an extended period of time by using salt and aging techniques. Even with all of the innovation since those early days of cheesemaking, the basic practice of cheesemaking remains remarkably the same.
How Cheese Is Made
Cheese is essentially the controlled spoilage and storage of milk. Many of the steps involved in cheesemaking can be accomplished in any number of ways and, in fact, some may even be entirely optional depending upon the ultimate cheese in mind. However, here are some typical basic steps used in cheesemaking:
- Collect the milk
- Heat the milk for pasteurization or thermizing or for encouraging a specific reaction of coagulation or flavor development.
- Acidify the milk to initiate the separation of curds and whey
- Encourage coagulation of the milk by adding rennet (in any of its forms) to produce distinct curds and whey
- Drain the curd (save the whey if you want to use it to make ricotta, feed your pigs or fertilize your garden).
- Form the cheese
- Age the cheese
There are many natural components that go into cheese making and there are a multitude of ways the cheesemaker can influence the process. Choices such as the species and breed of animal (from the familiar cows, goats and sheep to the less common water buffalo to the surprising camel, yak and mare), type of feed, milking cycle, pasteurization, type of acidifying culture, type of rennet, method of draining, heating and pressing, aging environment and ripening treatment all contribute to the final cheese that will be produced. With all of these variables it is easy to see how the term artisan is so easily applied to a process that requires a great deal of artistry.
Types of Cheese
We like to separate cheeses into general categories that are easily understood. There are numerous ways to categorize cheese including methods of production (blued, cooked, pressed etc...), aging characteristics (fresh vs aged) and texture (soft, firm, hard etc...). For this section, we opted for a simple and commonly accepted classification that focuses on some combination of the three.
- Fresh, unripened cheeses are those cheeses that may or may not be cultured but which in all cases have not been aged and are intended to be consumed soon after production. Cheeses in this category include queso fresco, cream cheese, ricotta, mozzarella, mascarpone, quark, fromage frais and fresh goat's milk cheeses such as Westfield Farm Capri logs.
- Fresh, ripened cheeses are those that are cultured and lightly aged (between 1-6 weeks) without a particular rind treatment (except sometimes being sprinkled with ash). The familiar French chevres such as Bonde de Gatine or Couronne Lochoise fall into this category.
- Soft, mold-ripened cheeses are those that have had a specific mold culture added to the milk or sprayed on the aging cheese to produce a soft rind that is often described as "bloomy". Brie, Camembert and Pierre Robert are a few of the cheeses that fall into this category.
- Washed-rind cheeses are those that are washed with brine, beer, or eau de vie (among other things) as they ripen to encourage the growth of specific molds (esp. B. Linens) which impart a peachy color to the rind and which ultimately increase the breakdown of the interior of the cheese for a softer texture. Cheeses such as Taleggio, Epoisses and Munster fall into this category.
- Semi-hard cheeses are pretty simply cheese that are not soft and not hard. There's a bit of flex in this category, as some cheeses will be softer when young, but can become hard grating cheeses when aged for a longer period. Typically, this category will include Pomerol, Morbier or young Gouda.
- Hard cheeses are those that have been cooked and/or pressed and aged to remove more of their moisture so that the texture will be hard and the flavors will become more concentrated. Cheeses in this category include Pecorino Gran Riserva, Parmigiano Reggiano and Aged Gouda.
- Blue cheeses are those that have been made in a way that encourages the growth of molds in the interior of a cheese. Blue cheeses are made by innoculating the milk with a specific mold culture such as Pennicillium Roqueforti and by treating the curds gently enough to preserve moisture and a loosely knit texture. Because the added culture is an aerobic mold, it must have oxygen to bloom. In order to get the blue veining in the cheese, makers will pierce the cheese with a set of needles which, when removed create pathways for the oxygen to penetrate to the interior and begin the blueing. Cheeses in this category include Roquefort, Gorgonzola, and Great Hill Blue.
- Blended / flavored cheeses are those cheeses that have had a flavor mixed into the curd. Cumin, fennel chili peppers are just some of the ingredients we've seen.
Building a Cheese Plate
When you come into our store or if you give us a call, we are happy to help you design a cheese plate that will fit your audience, your tastes and your budget. Online it may not be quite as personal, but you can get excellent results if you follow a few guidelines.
- Go with what you like. In Europe, the cheese course is served after the entree and before dessert, but we encourage you to eat cheese whenever you want: before dinner, after dinner or as your main course. If you want to eat the rind, go ahead - if not, don't. Rinds will often bring subtle flavors and textures to the cheese which might add or detract from the flavor and texture of the interior or the 'heart' of the cheese. This guideline also extends to pairings. We can give you plenty of pairing suggestions, but as the experience is filled with so much subjectivity and external influences we suggest making note of pairing advice and moving ahead on your own process of discovery to find pairings that you love.
- Choose quality over quantity. Your palate has a better chance of keeping up with your appetite if you have a smaller selection rather than a larger selection. We recommend doing tastings of at least three cheeses and not more than six.
- Variety is the Spice of Life. Unless you are interested in focusing on one particular type of milk, we like to mix up the offering a bit with a cow's milk, goat's milk, sheep's milk, a mixed milk and/or a cheese made with buffalo milk. We also like mixing up the cheese styles and textures. For example, we might have a fresh ripened chevre, a soft bloomy-rind cow's milk cheese, a soft washed-rind sheep's milk cheese, a hard cow's milk cheese and a mixed-milk blue cheese for a cheese course. This is the approach we take with our cheese samplers and our customers are consistently happy with our selections.
- Know your audience. We carry cheeses to suit many palates and when building a cheese plate, we suggest that you consider what your guests might appreciate. If it is an adventurous crowd, pick cheeses with more pungency and flavor and perhaps some cheeses that you've never heard of. If your crowd is more conventional, choose familiar styles such as brie, cheddar or gouda with maybe one more outlandish cheese to introduce folks to something new.
- Read our Descriptions. Food is often more fun when you know a bit about where it comes from, how its made and perhaps some of its history. We take time to write our descriptions with you in mind. Read through our descriptions and always feel free to send us an email or give us a call to get more information about a particular cheese.
Caring for Your Cheese
When you buy cheese in our store or on our site, we wrap it in a lined paper that we import from France that is designed for cheese. Ideally, we recommend using a clean wrap of this paper if you have any cheese left over from your meal. However, in a pinch we've found that wax paper (best for softer cheeses) or aluminum foil (best for firm to hard cheeses), work quite well. We choose not to store cheese in plastic wrap because we find that imparts an unpleasant chemical taste if left in contact with the cheese. Depending on the cheese and the condition of your refrigerator (humid or dry), you may want to overwrap the waxed paper with plastic wrap to avoid the plastic wrap contacting the cheese, while preserving moisture. If you must wrap in plastic wrap, after opening the cheese, be sure to clean the cut surface of the cheese by giving it a light scraping to remove the contacted area.
Store your cheese, tightly wrapped, in an area of higher humidity such as the meat or vegetable drawer and away from drafts. Most of the cheeses will keep for several days to several weeks if properly stored (aged, hard cheeses will last longer than fresh, soft ones). Any cheese will grow white, blue, yellow or black mold over time. These molds are natural and harmless to most except those who are immunocompromised. However these molds can add flavors of sharpness or bitterness so we recommend scraping the mold from the surface of the cheese.
Cheese Rinds
Most cheeses have rinds and most rinds are edible. It's much like eating a piece of fruit - If you don't like the skin, cut it off. Of course don't eat the wax, foil or cloth rinds and in the case of the hard Parmigiano rind, save it for soup and sauce making.