Cheese – Milk Dives Into Immortality
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One food that has been my favorite, ever since I was a child, till today when I am a mom to three, is cheese (how long does cheese last?). My mother gave us the traditional pb&j sandwich for school lunch only that the peanut butter (how long does peanut butter last?) would be replaced by cheese.
Oh! The mishmash of gooey salty cream cheese with the tart-sweet jam against the backdrop of the toasted bread is a school memory forever etched in my soul. I was a child who would gladly have cheese in any combination. Cheese x spicy chicken = yes please! Cheese x mom’s homemade sweet tahina sauce = why not! Chocolate spread x Cheese = the best!!
This love for cheese stayed with me as I grew but of course as an adult on a balanced diet, I kept my love affair with cheese within limits. But I do love my morning eggs and toast with a generous shaving of parmesan.
Cheese is the beautiful form that milk takes when it is added with rennet, an enzyme known for curdling milk proteins into curd and whey.
The History of Cheese
It was discovered by chance by ancient travelers who traveled long distances with their food and milk. They stored milk in bags made from animal stomachs and intestines. Sounds unappetizing? Well, it turns out the animal intestines contained rennet, which turned good old-fashioned milk into an exotic looking frothy, chewy solid, and some yummy watery substance that could be used as a refreshing drink during the journey.
Thus, cheese was introduced to the western part of the world by travelling Asians. Cheese making was widespread when the Roman Empire was at its height. Italy became the capital for cheese making during the 10th century and continued to flourish in Europe. It finally reached the United States in the 18th century but remained a local farm produce till the 19th century.
Soon enough people couldn’t resist the delicious phenomenon that was cheese and growth spread rapidly and today more than one-third of all milk produced annually in the US is turned to cheese!
Now there are just so many varieties of cheeses depending on the regions they are made in, but I am going to focus on the cheeses we have most commonly here in the U.S. The basic process through which cheese is made is the same. Curdling the milk and separating the whey from the solids-will give you fresh cheese like ricotta. It undergoes no further processing and is only drained and pressed into a mold. But many cheeses undergo more stages of processing that give it a distinct texture, color, fragrance and taste.
Going by the stages of processing and addition of more ingredients, cheeses are categorized mainly into four families.
Soft Cheese
Fresh Unripened Cheese: Soft, moist, and with a mild milky flavor, fresh cheeses (What wine goes well with fresh cheeses?) are unaged and the least processed. The high moisture level makes them velvety and almost melt in the mouth like consistency. Their milky taste makes them perfect for young kids to have on toast. Ricotta, feta, and mozzarella are some well-known fresh cheeses. This cheese is mostly used in cooking.
Ripened Bloomy Rind: Bloomy rind ripened cheeses are sprayed with mold spores and allowed to age for about a month so the mold growing on the surface can make a soft edible rind. The insides of the cheese are still soft and smooth with a buttery rich flavor. The Camembert and Brie are famous bloomy rind soft cheeses.
Ripened Washed Rind: This cheese is still soft but denser than the bloomy one. It gets its name from the fact that the cheese is washed with alcohol on several occasions as it matures for close to four months. The rind is edible but may be a bit too pungent to some. The Limburger from Wisconsin is the perfect example of a washed rind soft cheese. Pair this nutty and mild tasting cheese with fig jam (how long does fig jam last?) on crackers!
Blue Cheese
The infamous blue cheese rarely gets its due at cheese tastings, mostly because they are not high-quality authentic blue cheeses (What wine goes well with blue cheeses?) at all. They are blue first, cheese second.
Though they are all made through the same process of introducing blue mold powder to the milk, the variables which will differentiate two different blue cheeses are : a) the amount of moisture in the curd, b) the time the cheese is aged for allowing for more salt to penetrate into the body of the cheese and c) the strain of blue mold used which will result in flavor distinctions.
The ‘veins’ or pockets of blue mold in the cheese are due to the work of the mold and oxygen and is such a beauty to look at. Those with fewer pockets of blue are milder and sweeter in taste but the standard flavor profile for a blue cheese are salty and peppery. The Great Hill blue, the Point Reyes Blue and the award-winning Rogue River Blue are my favorite blue cheeses here in the United States. Pair a beautiful blue with honey and dried fruit (how long does dried fruit last?) and your cheese board won’t miss!
Semi Hard Cheese
Any cheese that is not hard, but not melting soft comes under semi hard cheese. These cheeses are aged for less than half a year, and milder in taste and aroma than the blues. The lack of moisture makes them harder, and also less aromatic than the other types. Their rinds are often edible and have a slightly more intense flavor towards the outer surface.
Some semi hard cheeses are nutty and buttery like the Gouda, and some are earthy and gamey like the Gruyere. The Monterey Jack is an American semi hard cheese, which is made from cows’ milk. It has a mild sweet flavor.
Semi hard cheeses melt nicely and can be spread uniformly. So, go on and grate a generous amount of the semi hard Gouda over your burritos, or grilled cheese sandwiches. I use semi hard cheese varieties the most for melting over pasta dishes.
Halloumi is a special semi hard white cheese that is similar to mozzarella. The slightly spongey cheese is unique in its characteristic of having a high melting point. It’s perfect had as a grilled cheese or fried.
The grilled Halloumi is crisp on the outside and marshmallow-ey in the center making it a craze among the young ones!
Hard Cheese
Hard cheeses are the ones which have been aged the longest. They are pressed to remove a lot of their moisture. This makes a hard, dry and gritty cheese with strong flavors. Have you ever noticed the grainy, crunchy sound that comes when you bite into a hard cheese? These are Calcium Lactate crystals that are formed when the cheese loose moisture with time. It causes the calcium salt to become more concentrated and become crystallized. These are natural in a hard cheese and no reason for concern! Make sure to consume hard cheeses at room temperature, not cold from the fridge. It really makes the flavor shine through!
Cheddar
This one is probably the most heard of hard cheese in America. The ‘cheddaring’ is an extra step in the making of the cheddar, where the curd after heating is kneaded with salt, cut to drain out the whey and stacked. The mature Cheddar is matured for more than 15 months. The cheese is sharp, pungent and slightly bitter to taste. Additives in the cheese tone down the flavor for a wide range of consumers.
Parmesan
When talking about hard cheeses, one cannot simply forget the Parmesan. The Parmesan is the non-Italian version of the world-famous Parmigiano-Reggiano. Made in the U.S, the Parmesan is a salty, hard cheese that has bursts of calcium crystals in each bite.
No matter which of the above cheeses you choose, you can be sure of one thing. Eating cheese will offer you and your family numerous health benefits. I know many people who are cheese ‘o’ phobic, or more simply scared of eating cheese. The fear of expanding waistlines seems to run deep in the public. But honestly, it is not the real cheeses that do the damage. But well talk about that in a bit. For now, lets see what all goodness cheese has in store for us.
Health Benefits of Cheese
Adequate amounts of calcium, protein and vitamin D in cheese helps prevent Osteoporosis or the weakening of bones.
Cheese in a high source of protein. Our bodies do not store protein; therefore, it is important to consume enough amounts of iron in our daily diets. Hard cheeses with low moisture content have the highest constitution of iron.
Cobalamin, also called vitamin B12, is the most complex vitamin in the body. It is responsible for the production of red blood cells and DNA cells in our body. Many cheeses provide abundant vitamin B12. Swiss cheese has the highest B12 content with almost 39% of the recommended daily intake in an ounce.
Cheese gives us plenty of vitamin K2. Vitamin K2 plays a vital role in blood coagulation. Abut 80% Americans are said to be deficient in vitamin K2. Hard cheeses like the Brie or the Gouda contain about 75mcg per ounce of vitamin K2 which is also responsible for preventing dementia and common cancers like leukemia.
Fortified with probiotic bacteria, cheese is shown to strengthen the immune system and inhibits immunosenescene. Probiotic rich Gouda cheese introduces gut healthy probiotics in your body.
Watch Out!
Now all this info about cheese doesn’t mean you go out and get the American cheese singles and get munching. American processed cheese is notoriously known as one of the worst cheeses in the world. It is said to be ‘made from cheese’. The ingredients list on a Kraft singles pack contains 14 ingredients, which include preservatives, additives like calcium phosphate and sodium nitrate, whereas a real cheese contains only Pasteurized milk, cheese cultures, salt and enzymes! Thanks to the preservatives, it can last for an indefinite amount of time on the shelf. Excessive levels of sodium, vegetable oils and gelatin make up for an undesirable cheese product that needs to be completely avoided. Eat cheese with no reservations, just make sure that the cheese you are having isn’t a 51% cheese snack!
Try Local Cheesemongers
Take the time to learn about the local cheeses in your city. There are several well-known cheese mongers in Texas who welcome visitors for cheese tasting sessions where they also show how their cheeses are made. It is a great way for kids to learn how cheese is actually created in its natural form.
Cheese is one of the oldest existing delicacies known to man. It is true that it has evolved a lot since but let us take care that the growing industrialization of food does not rob our coming generations of the goodness of real cheese.
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