Patrick Oconnell
Cheese is a dairy product that is consumed and loved by people all over the world. It is made from milk, most commonly from cows, but also from goats and sheep. There are many different types of cheese, with no standard way of classifying them. Some common categories include fresh, soft, semi-soft, semi-hard, and washed-rind cheeses. Fresh cheeses are uncooked, unaged, and sometimes contain whey, while soft cheeses are crafted within a day and meant to be eaten soon after production. Semi-soft cheeses, such as Camembert and Brie, have a smooth interior and high moisture content, becoming firmer and more pungent as they age. Washed-rind cheeses, like Limburger, are known for their strong odour and are washed in liquids such as salted water or wine during ripening. Blue cheese, another well-known variety, is made from cow's milk and gains its flavour from enzymes and long maturation periods.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Fresh cheese | Uncooked, unaged, soft, creamy, mild taste |
| Mozzarella, cottage cheese, ricotta, cream cheese, farmer cheese, mascarpone, queso fresco | |
| Burrata, feta, Chèvre | |
| Soft-ripened cheese | Semisoft, buttery, mild |
| Camembert, Brie, Limburger | |
| Blue cheese | Made from cow's milk, strong flavor, aged |
| Shropshire blue, Danablu or Danish blue cheese, Gorgonzola | |
| Bayley Hazen Blue, Jasper Hill | |
| Acid cheese | Made by combining heated milk with an acid like lemon juice or vinegar |
| Cheddar cheese | Tangy, yellow or orange, mild to sharp |
| Produced in the US, Australia, New Zealand, Canada | |
| Pecorino Romano | Salty and peppery flavor, made from sheep's milk in Italy |
| American cheese | Smooth, mild, semi-soft, melts well |
| Washed-rind cheese | Stinky, reddish-orange rinds |
| Taleggio, Reblochon, Èpoisses de Bourgogne, Limburger |
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What You'll Learn
How is fresh, unripened soft cheese made?
Fresh, unripened soft cheese is a good starting point for beginners in cheese-making because it involves the basic processes without the more complicated steps of pressing and ageing. These cheeses are known for their simplicity and versatility, and they have a short shelf life. They are usually high in moisture and low in fat, with a soft, smooth texture and a mild, milky taste.
Some examples of fresh, unripened soft cheeses are cottage cheese, cream cheese, mascarpone, ricotta, and quark. Cottage cheese is made by draining the curds, usually from low-fat milk. It has a lumpy yet creamy texture. Cream cheese is smooth, sweet, soft, and spreadable. Mascarpone is an Italian-style thick, smooth cream cheese with a rich, buttery, and slightly tangy flavour. It can be made using the cream left over from making parmesan, which is acidified with vinegar, tartaric acid, or lemon juice. Ricotta, which means "re-cooked", is usually made with a mixture of whey and whole milk, with a sweet, creamy, and slightly grainy texture. Quark is a name for many types of fresh, low-fat cheeses from different countries. It can be described as a cross between yoghurt and cottage cheese and is often used in sweet desserts or as a savoury replacement for sour cream.
To make fresh, unripened soft cheese at home, you can follow a simple recipe that involves combining heated milk with an acid such as lemon juice or vinegar to help the milk coagulate. You will also need butter muslin to drain the whey and thicken the texture.
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How is cow's milk cheese made?
Cow's milk is one of the four types of milk that the FDA has approved for cheesemaking, and it is used to make a wide variety of cheeses. These range from soft to hard cheeses, including Swiss, cheddar, gouda, mozzarella, Monterey Jack, and blue cheese varieties such as Gorgonzola, Shropshire blue, and Danish blue cheese.
Cow's milk cheeses offer a diverse range of flavours, from the earthy, mustard tang of clothbound cheddars to the sweet caramel flavour of aged gouda. Fresh mozzarella has a clean and simple lactic taste, while Alpine-style cheeses can have an herbaceous, nutty character. Blue cheeses gain their distinctive flavour from enzymes introduced during the ageing process and long maturation periods.
The process of making cheese from cow's milk involves several steps. First, the milk is sourced and then turned into cheese through a specific process, which can vary depending on the type of cheese being made. The cheese is then aged, packaged, and sold commercially.
While the exact process of cheese-making can be complex and vary depending on the type of cheese, the basic steps to make cheese from cow's milk are as follows:
- Milk the cow.
- Pasteurise the milk (unless making raw cheese).
- Add bacteria and rennet to the milk to separate the curds and whey.
- Cut the curds and drain the whey.
- Press the curds into a mould and add salt.
- Age the cheese for the desired length of time, which can be from a few weeks to several years.
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How is blue cheese made?
Blue cheese is made from cow, goat, sheep, or even buffalo milk, which may be raw or pasteurized. The type of milk used, as well as the diet of the animal it came from, will affect the flavour of the cheese.
To make blue cheese, the first step is to form curds from the milk. This is done by adding rennet, an enzyme that causes the milk to curdle. The curds are then drained and formed into wheels. At this stage, Penicillium roqueforti is sprinkled over the cheese, and the cheese is salted to prevent spoilage. The cheese is then left to age for 60 to 90 days.
The cheese's signature blue veins are created during the early aging stage when the cheese is pierced with stainless steel rods to let oxygen circulate and encourage the growth of mould. This process softens the texture and develops the cheese's distinctive blue flavour. The mould itself is from one or more strains from the genus Penicillium.
The metabolism of the blue mould breaks down fatty acids to form ketones, which give blue cheese its rich flavour and aroma. The flavour of blue cheese varies from crumbly, weepy, salty, and sharp to softer, creamy, and mildly earthy.
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How is soft-ripened cheese made?
Soft-ripened cheese is made from the same ingredients as other cheeses: milk, cultures, salt, and time. However, the process of making soft-ripened cheese is what sets it apart. This type of cheese is ripened in a way that makes it soft and gooey, rather than hard and crumbly.
To make soft-ripened cheese, you start with a clump of cheese curds that are pressed into a specific shape, usually a wheel or cylinder. The curds are then drained of all excess moisture (whey) over a couple of days. At this stage, the wheel of pressed curds will begin to age and develop a rind. The rind is crucial to the development of soft-ripened cheese. It acts as a skin, reducing airflow and keeping the curds inside moist. This causes the cheese to ripen from the outside in, with the curds closest to the rind ripening first and the middle ripening last.
Mold (Penicillium candidum, camemberti, or glaucum) is added to the milk or sprayed over the wheel of cheese to create the characteristic soft, white rind of soft-ripened cheeses. This mold also helps the cheese ripen from the outside in. The texture of soft-ripened cheeses is typically soft or semi-soft, sometimes even runny, with a creamy and luscious consistency. The flavour is usually described as buttery, mushroomy, creamy, grassy, or garlicky.
Some of the most well-known examples of soft-ripened cheeses are Brie and Camembert, which are made using similar production methods but have distinct flavours and textures. Brie has a buttery, mild flavour, while Camembert is stronger and more earthy. Other examples include Blue Cheeses and Roquefort (internally ripened), and Garrotxa (made from goat's milk) and Azeitão (made from ewe's milk).
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How is washed-rind cheese made?
The process of making washed-rind cheese involves periodically curing the cheese in a saltwater brine solution or mould-bearing agents. This can include beer, wine, brandy and spices. This process makes the surface of the cheese amenable to a class of bacteria, Brevibacterium linens, which give the cheese its distinctive reddish-orange hue and pungent odour. The brine solution is usually applied every two or three days using a paper cloth, a cheesecloth or a soft brush. This process usually goes on for about a month.
The practice of washing cheese rinds is believed to have originated in France during the sixteenth century, when monks would make cheese in their monasteries as a source of food. The conditions in monastery cellars were ideal for cheese bacteria, but the cheeses were often more liable to develop bad rinds. To avoid this, monks would wash the rinds with whatever they had on hand, often beer or brandy, as drinking water was scarce. This style of rind washing created softer, creamier cheeses.
Today, washed-rind cheeses are known for their strong odour, described as smelling like sweaty feet due to the presence of methanethiol, a molecule found in both stinky cheese and human foot odour. Despite their smell, washed-rind cheeses are considered a delicacy by many, with famous varieties including Stinking Bishop, Hooligan, and Winnimere.
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