No matter how far archaeological finds go, there is evidence that cheese came into being in prehistoric times. Cheese can not really be said to have been "invented". This delicious food must have resulted from the simple observation that milk left in a container ends up by coagulating, even more if it is hot. People living in areas where the climate changed seasonally would also have noticed the effect of temperature on this process: in warmer weather the milk would curdle faster than in the cold. This might be considered the first technological cheesemaking discovery.
There are hundreds of different types of cheese that can be differentiated both by the type of milk - raw, skimmed or pasteurised, and by the animal - cow, goat, sheep, buffalo, horse or camel.
The way a cheese is cut depends largely on its shape and size. The most important thing to keep in mind when cutting a cheese is to divide cheese so that everybody has an equal share of the inside and outside.
Round cheeses are to be cut in wedges, like a cake.
Cheese bought in slices should be cut lengthwise rather than across.
Tall truckles are easier to serve if sliced horizontally.
Both cheese and wine, with their centuries-old traditions, are natural products that are frequently consumed together. As a rule, the whiter and fresher the cheese the crisper and fruitier the wine should be. The great advantage of this union is that cheese and wine are both foods that can be enjoyed in their "raw" state, with little or no preparation, making them an ideal choice for quick snacks.
There are no hard and strict rules about which wine should be selected to accompany a particular cheese as the best selections are almost always based on individual tastes. However, we can offer you following principles:
A smooth, fatty cheese may go very well with a similarly smooth, slightly oily wine.
Sweet wine contrasts very well with a cheese with high acidity.
White wines go better with many cheeses than reds.
Not all red wines match with cheese. The most recommended are the fruity, light red wines.
Dry, fresh red wines are ideally suited to soft cheeses, especially goat ones.
A wine with good acidity may be complemented by very salted cheeses.
Dry champagnes are brilliant combination with bloomy white rinds.
The cheeses can be matched with beer or cider.
Try regional combination, the cheese and wine from the same region.
Cheese is a fresh or ripened product made from coagulated milk. Cheese can be differentiated both by the type of milk - raw, skimmed or pasteurised, and by animal - cow, goat, sheep, buffalo, horse or camel. For all of them however, there are four major stages in the basic process:
The first step in cheesemaking is to coagulate the milk solids into a curd. It can be done either by acid coagulation or rennet coagulation. Acid coagulation is caused by adding an acid substance (lemon juice, vinegar) or by adding a bacterial culture that turns the lactose into lactic acid. Renneting consists in adding the rennet to the heated milk. Coagulation, which cannot take place under 10 C, is activated at temperatures between 20 and 40 C. The coagulation period depends on the type of cheese and varies from 30 minutes to 36 hours.
The curds are broken down in a vat to separate the curds from the whey. As larger cheese curds contain more water than small ones, a large curd is prepared for soft cheeses, a medium-sized curd for firmer cheeses and a small curd for hard cheeses. The curds are cut up into lumps. The curd mass is constantly stirred to prevent it from agglomerating again. The duration of this cutting up (de-curding) period also varies according to the cheese. For many cheeses, a medium- sized curd is prepared first. It than gives off more whey when it is stirred and warmed. There are several methods for removing the curds from the vat for draining. A draining-board in long grooves is used and the entire vat poured onto it for goat's cheeses. Ladles may also be used to transfer the curds directly into moulds containing holes through which the whey can run off. With pressed cheeses, strong cloth which allows the whey to filter through the holes and retains the curds, is used.
Salt plays a substantial role in cheesemaking. Salting serves a number of functions, it speeds up the drying process, heightens the cheese's flavour, helps the rind to form and slows down the proliferation of micro-organisms. Each type of cheese has a specified salt content. The most common method is an immersion in a brine bath. Depending on the cheese, the brine will contain between 250 and 350g salt per litre. Dry-salting is done by rubbing the cheese with salt on repeated occasions after it has been removed from the mould.
Washed-rind cheeses are brushed or washed with salt at regular intervals during their maturation, preventing the formation of mould and keeping the rind soft. Cheeses may be washed in spirits (wine or bear).
Cheeses can be seeded with fungus to produce the soft white down of their "bloomy" rind, or the blue-green veining of "blue" cheeses.
The environment in which the majority of cheeses are ripened is usually a ripening cellar or a special storage room. Cheese-makers are often putting their cheeses in drying-rooms to speed up the maturation. The ripening cellar may be humid and warm, or relatively cool. The climate of the cellar is determined by the ambient temperature and relative humidity, as well as by the natural movement of air in the space. The temperature can range from 32 to 77 F, but the majority of cheeses are ripened at between 46 and 60 F. During the maturation period there is a constant exchange between ripening gases, such as carbon dioxide and ammonia, from the cheese and oxygen in the air, which is essencial for the growth of both aerobic surface flora and interior flora.
This is the simplest type of cheese. They are neither fermented nor matured. Their high moisture content, coupled with the high humidity, attracts and encourages the growth of the classic white penicillium mould. This type of cheese is creamy and smooth. They are based on cow's milk, skimmed or unskimmed, and sometimes enriched with cream.
These cheeses are neither pressed nor cooked. They are salted and seeded with Penicillium candidum that gives them their bloom (the white down that takes on a golden aspect as it ages.)
The curd, which may or may not be cut depending on how soft the final cheese should be, is scooped into moulds and left to drain. The high moisture of the curd and the humidity of the maturing rooms attract a bitter-tasting, grey, hairy mould called "cat fur". They are raw or pasteurised milk cheeses that come from the north of France, the east of Belgium, Luxembourg and the western marches of Germany. The maturation period lasts from two to six months, then the cheeses are washed in slightly salted brine. These cheeses are rather spicy and outrageously piquant in taste and aroma. They can smell yeasty or almost meaty.
For this type of cheese the raw or pasteurised milk is heated to 36 C and coagulated at a slightly lower temperature. The curds are fragmented into tiny particles the size of rice grains and pressed through cloths to extract the whey. The maturation takes two to three months. The rind is brushed to obtain a regular patina and prevent patches of humidity.
Hard, pressed, cooked cheeses are virtually identical to the semi-hard, pressed, cooked cheeses. These cheeses are made using the evening's milk, left to stand overnight and skimmed, mixed with that of the next morning. Maturation takes place in a cool, humid cellar, and lasts four to ten months, during which the cheese is washed in a low-salt brine and scraped.
The blue mould is a strain of penicillium that is added to the milk before the rennet is added either in liquid or powder form. Most blue cheeses are normally wrapped in foil to prevent them from drying out. They are neither pressed nor cooked. They are usually made from cow's milk.
These are mainly goat's and sheep's cheeses. When young, they have a slightly wrinkled, cream-coloured rind. In time they dry out, the wrinkles become more pronounced and the character and flavour increases, along with the growth of bluish grey mould. Their taste is fresh, almost fruity, with undertones of goat. To mature, these cheeses must be kept dry.
These are the result of melting one or more pressed, cooked or uncooked cheeses, and adding milk, cream, butter and sometimes flavouring agents. One or several ripened cheeses are heated and mixed, then pasteurised at high temperature (130-140 C) after other dairy products, such as liquid or powdered milk, cream, butter, casein, whey, and seasoning, have been added.
