Category: Cheeses
Shelf Life: A Key Component to Cheese
You walk into your kitchen and notice that piece of cheese on the far end of your counter that you purchased weeks ago. Being entirely weary, you go over to this hunk of cheese and pick it up to examine it. You turn it over, analyzing every corner and then you take the great leap of faith to sniff it, and as you do, you’re nostrils take in this distinct and pronounced smell. Is the cheese still good and this smell is due to aging or is this just a smell of plain ol’ spoiled cheese?
A rule of thumb when purchasing cheese is to, essentially, not bite off more than you can chew, literally. When making a purchase, buy enough for a day or a week’s worth of consumption that will put you in a comfortable position. Worried about purchasing cheese from a store in fear that it might be spoiled or not entirely as fresh as possible? Not to worry. Buying cheese from a specialty foods store, such as Shisler’s Cheese House, will ensure the best cheese buying experience as their storage facilities are better conditions that what can be replicated in your own home. Where a cheese is kept weighs heavily on its quality.
Here are a few “best practices” for cheese storage and shelf life:
When smelling a cheese and it turns out carry a pungent aroma with it, that does not mean this will always be a case of it being spoiled (i.e., Limburger). Smell the cheese you want to purchase and decide if the aroma is bearable and simply aged or if it is not your “cup of tea”, or in this case not your “slice of cheese”.
Taste the cheese. If, by now, you haven’t decided whether the smell is desirable or off-putting, try a piece and see if the taste if what you’re looking for.
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Fresh, soft cheeses as you would find in a grocery store, have a shorter shelf life than aged, harder textured cheeses. Fresh, younger types of cheese such as Ricotta, Mozzarella and Goat cheese generally have a shelf life lasting up to a week or week and a half, from the date of purchase. If you taste the cheese and its taste has hints of spoiled milk, well, I don’t think much more must be said.
Brie and Camembert tend to have a longer shelf life than fresh, young cheese as well, and other similar cheeses with a bloomy rind, yet still have an ample content of moisture to where it could still spoil. Overall, these types of cheese can last for weeks to perhaps a month and half, depending on the date of purchase. If the cheese rind on these types of cheeses appears to have a pink mold with a slimier coating, best to toss it. If an ammonia-type smell develops, this is not bad thing, as this is a byproduct of the aging process.
Cheese such as Taleggio, Limburger and Epoisses are best eaten straight after purchase. These cheeses carry an especially pungent aroma, so you could imagine the work they could do stored in the far ends of your refrigerator. The rinds on these cheese will dry out and crack over time which becomes a paradise for bacteria to live and thrive, a potential death sentence if consumed under these conditions. Best to eat these cheese as soon as they are purchased, but try not to let these cheese spend more than a week in your fridge if even that long before consumption.
Lightly aged goat cheeses such as Crottin, Chevrot and Chabichou du Poitou and other French-origin goat cheeses are virtually indestructible. Enough said…
Aged cheeses such as Cheddar, Gouda, Gruyere, Parmigiano Reggiano and Fontina have gone through a lengthy aging process that ensures their durability over the test of time. With such minimal moisture within these cheeses, there is nothing too much to be worried about with these cheeses. In many cases, the more aged these cheeses are, the better they taste.
As Blue Cheeses age, they become more intolerable to those not accustomed to this type of cheese. The moment you try a blue cheese, you will know whether or not the taste has become to overwhelming for your liking. While it will never put your health at stake, the age of a blue cheese may take a toll on your taste buds. The higher the moisture content in a blue cheese, the quicker it develops a more pungent taste. Wrapping these cheeses in foil will maintain their moisture content.
Source: http://www.thekitchn.com/the-cheesemongers-top-ten-rule-47335
What is the Perfect Cheese For Pizza?
September 5th marked a day of celebration for America, and perhaps, even much of the world… because who doesn’t like pizza and cheese or both? Unknown to many is that September 5th is National Cheese Pizza Day. You know with the birth of smartphones and mobile apps came the phrase “…there’s an app for that”, well in similar light, if you love a food or, in this case, a combination of foods, a new axiom may take shape here, “…there might just be ‘National’ day for that”. A day that puts the focus of pizza and cheese, two delicious foods in and of themselves, but when together, spark a whole new revelation of culinary marvel… who would not love a day just to celebrate such a marvel? The answer should be simple… no one.
There has been an age-old question that continues to make the mind wonder and wander, that is… “Is there a perfect cheese to put on pizza?” Dr. Bryony James, a scientist whose research centers on food microstructure and food material science in New Zealand at the University of Auckland dove right in to find an answer the this question. Dr. James’ team of scientists study the building blocks of food and even experiment with structural composition of various foods that can influence its functionality. Ideally, their line of scientific research would allow them to develop a potential hypothesis for such an experiment. As the team began initial studies of the “best cheese for pizza”, they already knew that, historically, Mozzarella was highly favored and the most commonly used cheese for pizza topping.
Among countless scientific trials and experiments, the team researched cheese based on browning and blistering. These variable were designated as focuses of research as they were found to be the most looked upon features by consumers. Examining the properties, features and characteristics of cheese could potentially lead to further discoveries of the ideal cheese or in some cases, the ideal combination of cheeses to use on pizza. Other cheeses the group extended their research to was Cheddar, Colby, Emmental, Gruyere and Provolone. The actual experimentation itself was conducted by state-of-the-art technology, as opposed to human hands. As human judgment would have been idea over the work of a machine, it would have been far more time-consuming and brought the idea of a “bias” trial or opinions when bringing human emotion and interaction into the picture.
Of the properties of cheese that were measured for this experiment, smell, texture, melting properties and color were at the forefront. Researched revealed that some cheeses like Cheddar did not produce a favorable level of blistering while the likes of Gruyere did not properly brown after melting, which can be attributed to the oil content within the cheese. The results clearly indicated that although Mozzarella might be the traditional favorite cheese topper for pizzas, there might not be that “perfect” cheese or combination of cheeses, as each cheese’s characteristics and properties, when undergoing melting, might be desirable for one consumer, but desirable for another.
Source: http://www.cheeserank.com/post/the-science-of-pizza-cheese
If You Like to Spice Things Up with Hot Foods, These Cheeses Might Be Your Spice to Life!
There are some folks who like the simpler things in life, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that… then there are those that love to add that extra kick (or 10 kicks) into their diet to satisfy their constant craving for spicy foods.I know several folks that love, love, love spicy foods, and they just cannot get enough of it. Ketchup on eggs and burgers are an obsolete memory of the past. Ketchup has now been replaced by the likes of liquid smoke, tabasco sausce or other combinations of sauces that add fireworks to an otherwise ordinary meal. If you are a cheese lover, there are a number of cheeses out there that are a kick or ten above the rest, one of which is so hot that the few restaurants that serve it on their burgers require that you sign a waiver release before eating the burger and that you wear latex gloves to prevent spice burns. Yes, it is that serious and the cheese is that spicy. Without further adieu, let’s take a look at some of these spicier cheeses.
The fact is, most cheese is naturally made mild as milk usually acts as a soothing agent to thwart the “burn” in your mouth and throat left behind by spicier foods. Here are the few exceptions…
Jalapeño
One of the most “garden-variety” chili peppers available across the globe, often get integrated into cheese to give it that extra kick. Jalapenos, believe it or not, has a fairly low spice level, compared to another cheese that makes this list as well. There is actually a scale in which the spice level of a chili pepper is measured, called the Scoville scale, where the level of hot in a chili pepper is measure in units called Scoville units. In this case, the Jalapeno falls at around 2,500 to 10,000 units. Finding a store that sells “Jalapeno Cheddar” is not a difficult task as Jalapeno Cheddar is more of a household cheese for those that love the spice.
Habañero
If consuming Jalapenos raw, by the handful as snack and without any soothing agent like milk or water, perhaps you’d like to take the stakes a little higher and give Hot Habanero cheese a try. Habanero is markedly spicier than the aforementioned Jalapeno chili pepper, coming in at a staggering 100,000 to 350,000 units on the Scoville scale. This pepper will weed out the fainter taste buds in a heartbeat. Cheese infused with Habanero Chili Peppers is still relatively easy to find in larger grocery stores and specialty foods stores.
Ghost Chili Pepper
If you are one of the rarer breeds who loves the hot level off the charts to where you cannot feel you mouth, lips, nose, tongue, throat, or pretty much your entire upper half, then perhaps Ghost Chili Pepper-infused cheese is up you ally. Ghost Chili Pepper is the second hottest cheese on Earth, yes, on the face of our planet. It comes in on the Scoville scale as being about 200 times hotter than the Jalapeno. Yes, this cheese can be legally bought, but very few have the sanity to buy it as, well, you value the life of your taste buds, mouth and lips. Restaurants that do make cheeseburgers with cheese that is infused with Ghost Chili Pepper cheese, and there are very few that do, require paperwork to be filled out by the challenge eater and latex gloves to be worn to prevent spice burns on the hands.
Is Cheesecake Made From Real Cheese?
You are at your favorite restaurant and you order something off the dessert menu. None other than universal go-to and favorite, cheesecake. Then you begin thinking to yourself, why do they call it cheesecake when the main ingredient in the cheesecake is cream cheese? Why not call it Cream Cheesecake? Well, truth be told, while some use cream cheese to make cheesecake, many other parts of the world use actual cheese to create this one-of-a-kind dessert masterpiece. There are actual a number of cheeses that different parts of the world use to make their own version of [real] cheese cake.
Cream Cheese
Cream cheese was first created in the 19th century across the United States. Having many styles and variance, cream cheese was first made my local dairy farmers in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Later, in the 19th century, William A. Lawrence, a Chester, New York dairyman bought a Neufchâtel factory. Neufchâtel is a softer cheese that is native from France for centuries. Lawrence, however, decided to take an additional step by adding more cream during the Neufchâtel-making process causing the cheese to become richer and heavier. He termed this “cream cheese”, and how fitting the name was. The majority of cheese cakes across North America are made with the base of some type of cream cheese giving “typical” cheese cake that rich, creamy texture.
Sour Cream
Seriously?? While sour cream is not a cheese, it is a dairy byproduct of fermenting cream. Because of its smoothness and creaminess, it is often added to the cream cheese base that is used in cheese cake to make it creamier and thicker. Yet, other renditions of the dessert may feature a strictly-cream cheese base with a sweet, sour cream topping, usually in plain form or with lemon shards adding an extra bite or or layer of flavor.
Quark
Across various parts regions of Europe, quark is the go-to ingredient when making cheese cake. Because it is native to parts of Europe, cheese cake made from quark is often termed “German-style” or “Bavarian” cheesecake. Like Sour Cream, quark is made from the fermentation of milk. It has a creamy and yet a bit crumbly in texture and often has curds. Unlike cottage cheese, also having curds, quark is not made with rennet (as cottage cheese is) and salt, at times.
Ricotta
Here we have the real deal. I, personally, have had cheesecake made with Ricotta and I can tell you that it is the best cheesecake I have ever had. Besides its most common use in Lasagna and Manicotti, Ricotta is used to make cheesecake. While it is made in the United States as well, it is referred to as “Ricotta Pie” here in the states. Other versions of Italian cheesecake might use Mascarpone, a very soft Italian cheese often used in Tiramisu.
Is Raw Cheese Healthy or Unhealthy?
We’ve all eaten cheese at some point in our life, unless health reasons prohibit us from doing so. But what is “raw” cheese? No, it is not cheese that is not cooked thoroughly. Instead, raw cheese is made from milk that is not pasteurized. For a while now, food critics and health experts alike have continually debated the benefits and disadvantages that consuming raw cheese can have on one’s health.
Consuming unpasteurized cheese is considered the thing to do today, as buying artisanal foods as such is trending very high in today’s market. There are some who believe consuming cheese’s raw version is a healthier option than its counterpart, pasteurized cheese. However, as some would believe that raw cheese promotes health, there are others that contradict such claims.
THE BENEFITS
As program director at Oldway’s Coalition, Carlos Yescas, noted, there are a number of benefits to eating raw cheese. Among the key benefits are the diversity of microorganisms that are contained within the raw cheese. While uncertainties still remain due in large part to the human biological response to these microorganisms, the majority of the microbes present in raw cheese have the ability to combat disease and bodily infections. While many folks have shown concern with raw cheese and its production, Yescas assures that at the forefront of safety measures for producing raw cheese, is the diligence in making certain that good milk is sourced. It is the cheese-makers utmost priority to ensure that quality of the milk is superior which includes animal living conditions, animal nutrition and diets and animal husbandry. Because of the great risk involved when not pasteurizing the milk, a great deal of time, energy and resources are invested in making certain the conditions surrounding the milking-process is pristine.
Raw milk also has similar nutrients that are normally contained in pasteurized cheese, such as protein and calcium, among others while tasting identical to their counterparts.
THE DISADVANTAGES
Normally, you’ll find the cheese-making process to use milk that has been pasteurized. The pasteurization process involves heating the milk to destroy and pathogenic microorganisms that might be harmful, while maintaining its integrity of nutritional quality. In some cases, the pathogenic microorganisms can make you fall ill, especially those with lower immune systems like children, pregnant and breastfeeding women, older folks and those with chronic diseases. It is best advised to not consume raw cheese if under these conditions.
THE FINAL SAY
A number of raw cheeses can be found at local markets, by local producers. It is of the utmost importance to check and ensure that the conditions and environment of where the cheese is kept up to health and safety regulations. If you decide to consume raw cheese, make certain you are aware of where you are buying it from and how the methods in which the producer treats and raises the cows for milking.
The Curious Case of Cheese
After doing some lengthy research, here is a list of the most interesting tidbits about cheese, that might be “news” to many…
From a Variety of Sources
Although the milk used in cheese-making commonly uses the milk of cows, milk involved the this process can also come from other animals such as sheep, goats, horses, buffaloes, camels, donkeys and moose. Although a rare type of milk used in making cheese, moose milk is made on farms native to Sweden and can be a bit challenging given the short lactation period of the moose.
Photo Credit: Alexis Negranti
When it Rome, Eat Cheese
One of the unknown facts about the Romans was their love of cheese. Romans that had larger end homes dedicated a room in the house as a special kitchen specifically for the purpose of cheese-making, which was called a Careale. As part of their custom, the Romans used the Careale to smoke the cheese as a means to add flavor and more importantly, to preserve it. Each state of the, then, Roman Empire, began creating their own customized cheese, native to their state, as the Roman Empire expanded through the centuries.
Maggot Cheese?!?!
Sounds disgusting, right? In anyone’s right mind, yes, you’d easily pass up the offer of eating cheese with maggots without a second though. But, there are folks that love the cheese and will swear that it is just the “bee’s knees”. The Cheese is called Cazu Marzu and is made from the likes of sheep’s milk, with an extra ingredient that, well… is unique, the “cheese fly”. Once in the cheese, the cheese flies will lay eggs, hatching and becoming maggots over time, causing the cheese to decompose, partially. I could go on with further detail of this cheese, but I think we all get the big picture here and I would rather not have you lose your lunch after reading this. Cazu Marzu is a delicacy in Sardinia, but illegal to eat due to its obvious nature and risk of health. Who would’ve thought you would need to sign over your will before eating a cheese… pass!
Do You Fancy Cheese
As there is an app for almost everything these days, there is a term for everything as well. In this case, the term that is coined for a true connoisseur and love of cheese is called a “Turophile”.
What Is That Smell???
Vieux Boulogne is a cheese native to France, made from cows’ milk and washed beer. Huh? Yes, washed beer. It is believed to be the cheese with the most potent smell on the planet. Limburger, you have company. Two other cheese that have a comparable pungent aroma are washed rine cheese and Stinking Bishop, a cheese native to England made from fermented pear juice. Just remember, a pungent cheese does not mean it has poor flavor.
Photo Credit: noodlepie via photopin cc
An Explosion Of Flavor
Unbeknownst to many is the oddity that while many dairy products are at their best quality when cooled, cheese is the polar opposite in the dairy family as it is at its best taste when eaten at room temperature as it has the most flavor when not chilled.
Cheesy Countries
When you think of nations that consume the most cheese, you’re thinking the United States has to be at the top. Wrong, the United States doesn’t even crack the top 3. The nations that lead in cheese consumption are: Greece, France and Iceland.
Cheese is Everywhere in Wisconsin… Even on the roads?!
We all know that Wisconsin is known for its cheese-making prowess and it has become well-deserved honor through the course of history. Cheese and cheese-making have become such a mainstay across Wisconsin that vehicle license plates carry the slogan “America’s Dairyland” while lawmakers have officially coined the bacterium found in Monterey Jack cheese as the official microbe of the state of Wisconsin. A little over the top? Perhaps, but to each their own. However, one thing that takes Wisconsin’s love for its cheese from interesting to just… mind-blowing… is the use of cheese as melting agent for its city streets during winter.
In 2013, Milwaukee commenced a program that would use cheese brine to prevent citywide roads from freezing over during winter. The melting solvent was a mixture of cheese brine and traditional rock salt. The purpose behind this program was to execute a more cost efficient means of treating roads during the year’s harshest weather.
Photo Credit: Tom Lynn/New York Times
According to Jeffrey A. Tews, operations manager for the city’s public works department, “You want to use Provolone or Mozzarella, which has the best salt content. You have to do practically nothing to it.” Tews and his crew, in the program’s infancy, spread the solvent across the streets of Bay View, a neighborhood on Milwaukee’s north side.
A group of experts noted that efforts to reuse the brine from cheese was only a matter of time before that came to fruition, especially considering a state so enamored in cheese like Wisconsin.
A local city official in Milwaukee noted that the state is trying to extract every possible use out of cheese it possibly can. He went on further to note that if the program continues to make leaps and bounds, it will most likely be implemented by cities all across the country. While the prospect of this program does sound like a genius idea, it does come with the potential for negative impacts, as does any newly piloted program in its infancy. Some of the issues that may surface range from:
- Would the brine put out a cheese odor that would become bothersome for residents?
- Would the scent attract rodents or other animals?
- Would the pros of using cheese brine in the mixture of this solvent be enough to justify the transport and storage requirements for the brine, over the long haul?
If at first this sounds like a laughable program, think about the facts in play. Wisconsin produced well over 2 billion pounds of cheese in 2012. With such lofty amounts of cheese production comes an overwhelming supply of brine, which would otherwise be sent to the waste plant. Cheese brine, by city requirements, is allowable as a treatment on roads if limited to an 8 gallon to one ton rock salt ratio. The benefit of using brine in solvents for treating roads works for both parties, the dairy plants and the city’s public works departments. The dairy plants save on hauling costs for those municipalities in need of brine for road treatments who are willing to travel to the plant and haul it away for them (saving an average of $20,000/year) while the municipalities save on the cost of rock salt with the addition of brine to their treatment solvent (saving an average of $40,000/year). In the long run, it would seem that while there are both pros and cons on the table, I would suspect that the benefits of using brine to treat winter roads would tremendously outweigh the shortcoming of its use. I could see this become a nationwide program over the next decade.
Cheese-Making Has Been Around For Longer Than You Might Think, Predating the Time of Jesus Christ
As we all know, Cheese has played an integral part of history, serving as sustenance through the ages for the human race since before the common era (before the time of Christ). From its infancy to the present day, although the processes have been slightly changed, adjusted and tweaked over thousands of years, the basic ideas and methodologies for cheese-making has not really changed all that much.
Cheese can come in many forms, from bricks to wheels to larger blocks. If you’d like to see a large block of cheese, stop by Shisler’s Cheese House and take a gander at our 50-pound block of Pearl Valley Swiss Cheese. One of the more unique traits to cheese is that it is one of the few foods that are more sought after for when aged, than when made fresh. Some cheese can age several months, while some can age for several years.
As we are most accustomed to cheese for its use as a means of sustenance, cheese also has served a number of purposes through the ages, many of which are entirely “unrealized” by present-day society.
If you sit down and talk to anyone involved in the meticulous process of cheese-making, while it has its variations, the most simple answer for cheese making is: warming up some fresh milk, adding a solution that would increase the acidity content that would enable the milk to become curdled. As it cools down, the extra liquid called “whey” is extracted and the resulting product is cheese. While this becoming a known fact across society and while we are aware of this process, overall, how and where did this process become the standardized way of cheese-making?
It is noted in the publication in a journal called, Nature, cheese-making process established its primitive roots some 7,000 years ago, while other sources place the first cheese-making processes around 8,000 years. Nonetheless, we are still looking thousands of years of cheese-making, and the incredible part of it all is that, for the most part, the cheese-making process has experienced very little change,aside from a number of tweaks and modifications, due in large part to ever-changing technology and machines that cut down on the process time.
Noted in the journal’s article was that the first insights leading to the belief of Neolithic cheese-making were a number of foreign vessels in which archaeologists extracted across Northern Europe over 40 years ago. What was odd with these extracted vessels was that there were holes in them, which could suggest evidence of a primitive cheese-making container.
Unfortunately, at the time, this was only one workable theory as there was no certainty behind the claim, nor a way to a prove such. As the times changes, so did the technology and with the age of mass movements in technology, this theory would finally be proven as forensics would allow scientists to discover traces of cow’s milk within these hole-riddled containers.
Cheese has been a staple for millennia as the availability and life of dairy products ultimately causing hunters to stray more away from the killing of cattle and livestock to a life more focused on dairy and dairy processes, including cheese making. While hunterss did not stray completely away from the use of cattle and livestock as sustenance, dairy and dairy process were now more favorable as hunters now had the option of now putting down their “prized” cattle for food.
Noted again in the journal, a geneticist out of University College London did tremendous research on these primitive cheese-makers only to discover that most Europeans of the Neolithic period would have been lactose intolerant, meaning, digesting the lactose sugar from milk would have been very problematic. However, during the cheese-making process, any lactose from the milk would be extracted and removed through the holes in the primitive, cheese-making containers. A chemist out of the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom discovered traces of milk buildup in pottery fragments across parts of Southwest Libya which dates back to prehistoric times.
As you can see, the evidence is quite revealing and has been scientifically proven. Cheese-making has been around for ages, dating back the some 7-8,000 years ago, essentially a world and time that has been all but forgotten of, but thanks in large part to technology, researchers, archaeologists and other scientist who dedicate their life’s work to such research, we can now begin to paint a picture of cheese-making, through the ages, even to a time before Jesus Christ, which is truly remarkable!
Pip Pip Cheddar-io: England, the Birthplace of Cheddar.
Cheddar
The most widely eaten cheese on this planet, Cheddar originated in Somerset, England around the late 12th Century and took its name from the Gorge or caves in the town of Cheddar that were used to store the cheese. The constant temperature and humidity of the caves provided a perfect environment for maturing the cheese. The town also gave its name to a unique part of the cheese-making process – known as “Cheddaring” – which is the process of turning the slabs of curd and piling them on top of each other in a controlled way to help drain the whey.It also stretches the curd. The process helps to create a harder cheese with firm body and is unique to Cheddar making.
Some History
Cheddar making in Somerset goes back more than 800 years with records from the King of England’s accounts (the so-called “Great Roll of the Pipe”) noting that in 1170 the King purchased 10,240 lbs (4.6 tonnes) of Cheddar cheese at a cost of a farthing a pound. The king at the time- Henry II – declared Cheddar cheese to be the best in Britain and his son Prince John (who reigned between 1199 and 1216) clearly thought the same as there are records of him continuing to buy the cheese for the great Royal banquets. In the reign of Charles 1 (1625 to 1649) parliamentary records show that the cheese made in Cheddar was sold before it was even made and indeed was only available at the court.
In 1724 Daniel Defoe devoted a chapter to Cheddar and its cheese in his book “A tour of the Islands of Great Britain”.
Today
Today Cheddar cheese is still made in Somerset but also all over the world. It is made on farms in the West Country and 14 makers are licensed to use the EU Protected Designation of Origin “West Country Farmhouse Cheddar”. The cheese must be made on a farm in the four counties of Devon, Cornwall, Dorset and Somerset from locally produced milk and using traditional Cheddar making techniques – including hand Cheddaring. West Country Farmhouse Cheddar is matured in the region and sold at a minimum age of 9 months and is subject to regular grading throughout its life.
Larger dairies throughout the UK also make Cheddar and this is sold at different ages. Mild Cheddar is typically sold at about 3 months of age; medium matured Cheddar at 5 to 6 months; mature Cheddar at around 9 months, Extra Mature at around 15 months and Vintage at 18 months or more.
As Cheddar matures so its taste develops from the young creamy taste of mild Cheddar to complex, lasting, slightly nutty flavours of mature Cheddar and beyond.
Major brands include Cathedral City, Pilgrims Choice, Colliers and Seriously Strong whilst many supermarkets will now include the creamery or the farm in which the cheese was made. For example, Davidstow, Taw Valley, Lake District, Caledonian Pembrokeshire, Lockerbie and Isle of Man in the case of major creameries and Alvis, Gould, Denhay, Parkham, Brue Farm, Quickes, Goodwood Estate or Keens, in the case of farm made cheeses. Cheddar is made in most areas of the country often as a balancing cheese when milk supply from a farm peaks.
Traditionally made Farmhouse varieties, which may be cloth bound, become significantly harder as they age; the texture becomes drier and the flavours generally more complex than their creamery counterparts. Some of the farm-made Cheddar uses unpasteurised (raw) milk which will tend to have rather more complex and stronger flavours, whilst others will use pasteurised milk. Cheese flavour will also vary depending on the time of year it was made and what the cows may have been eating at that time.
Creamery made Cheddar is increasingly being sold at a longer age in response to changing consumer tastes for tastier cheese. These more mature (extra mature or vintage) Cheddars often have a characteristic sweet, nutty flavour with a very long finish. Mild Cheddar remains popular as an every day cheese and is characterised by a gentle, creamy flavour and has the added advantage of slicing easily.
So whatever your preference there will be a Cheddar for you depending on its age, how it was made, where it was made and the time of year that it was made.
Tips when buying
If you can, try before you buy because every Cheddar will be slightly different. Find the one that you like and try to remember its name and its age (as defined by mild, medium mature etc). For a difference try one of the smoked or smoke flavoured Cheddars which many cheese shops now offer or the blended Cheddars where ingredients such as herbs, spices, Marmite© or fruits may have been blended with the matured cheese to produce a whole range of different taste sensations.
Feta Cheese vs. Goat Cheese: Quite the Cheesy Argument
Ever wonder where the differences lie between feta and goat cheese? While many people refer to feta as a goat cheese, feta actually has a higher sheep’s milk content than goats’ milk content. According to the regulations surrounding the official name ‘feta’, no more than 30% of a feta cheese’s milk can come from goats; at least 70% of the milk has to be sheep’s milk. If a feta cheese has more than 30% goats’ milk in it, it is not, officially speaking, a feta cheese.
Goat cheese, as can be inferred from the name, is made from goats’ milk. Therefore, the difference between feta cheese and goat cheese is that goat cheese is 100% goats’ milk, and feta cheese is made up of sheep’s milk, plus some varying amount of goats’ milk, up to, but not exceeding, 30% of the total milk used to make the cheese. Despite this difference in content, there are good reasons why feta and goat cheese often get mixed up.
Feta Cheese
Feta cheese has a long tradition of being made in Mediterranean countries, where it is required that feta be aged at least three months. Just like the milk content is checked to make sure that the cheese can be classified as feta, the amount of time the cheese has been allowed to ripen is also checked in order to ensure that it can accurately be called a feta cheese.
The actual name ‘feta’ comes from Greek, meaning ‘a slice or a morsel’, and feta cheese is closely associated with many Greek dishes. Many recipes calling for feta cheese are variations on Greek salads, which often feature feta and olives, or variations on cooked feta, such as what has come to be known as Spanakopita, a Greek puff pastry filled with feta cheese, spinach, and spices.
Goat Cheese
Unlike feta cheese, goat cheese is traditionally made from 100% goats’ milk. Most common in France, goat cheeses are usually aged for a shorter period of time than feta cheeses. While fetas must be aged at least three months, many variants of goat cheese are ready for consumption very soon after the cheese has been formed and salted during the goat cheese making process. Other variants of goat cheese can be aged much longer, with some being aged for a month and others having three months or more to mature.
Generally speaking, the longer the goat cheese is aged, the stronger the flavor of the cheese becomes. When in France, it is a delight to explore the many varieties of goat cheese that are some of the favorite French cheeses. Trying both young and aged goat cheeses provides a very different experience of the taste of goat cheese; if you’re buying goat cheese in a shop where there is no shopkeeper to advise you on flavor, remember that the outside rind of a goat cheese becomes progressively darker with age. If you’d like a young goat cheese, choose the whitest rind you see; the darker rinds have more mature goat cheeses inside.
Difference Between Feta Cheese and Goat Cheese Tastes
While both of these cheeses are white in color and on the ‘soft’ side of the cheese spectrum, their flavors are actually quite different from one another. While the dominant flavor most people experience in feta cheese is a salty taste, goat cheeses are usually experienced as soft and sweet in flavor. Of course, different varieties of goat cheese (aged different lengths of time) have different flavors; however, aging goat cheese will not make it taste saltier. Instead, the flavor will become stronger in aged cheeses, but stronger in complexity, not in saltiness.
Both feta and goat cheese can be eaten cold or hot. Experiment with different types of recipes for these two delectable cheeses and you’re sure to find ways that you enjoy both types of cheese!
