Cheese, the perfect food.

I have been a captive of the precious metals market and the financial turbulence as well, but today I will start writing about other things. Let's start with cheese.

Cheese is the perfect food. It is like milk, but concentrated. It contains some minerals and vitamins, protein and fat. The proteins and fats of cheese are easily digestible, after all, that is what the Creater intended as food for the little ones. Whether, the source of milk is cows, goats or sheep, it is all good for people, unless you have a rare metabolic disease.

The varity of cheeses is amazing. A lot has to do with the origin of the cheese. Different places have different bacteria and give slightly different taste to the cheese. The artesan cheesemaker tends to overwhelm this by adding bacterial cultures to ferment the lactose. Then there is the technique of washing the curd. After the curd (protein and fat) is precipitated by the added renet, a part of the liquid (the whey) can be replaced with water. This removes the lactose and lactic acid, resulting in a milder cheese. An example is Havarti. But, Edam and Gouda are also washed curd cheeses.

Some cheeses receive their character from the microorganisms added to it. Blue cheese has Penicillium rockforti, swiss cheese has Lactobacillus Shermani (produces the holes), Muenster is sprayed with a solution of B Linens and Camambert is treated with two kinds of moulds.

Much depends on the length of time a cheese is aged. Cheese aged a month may be even semi-soft (such as Havarti), but cheese aged longer (2-4 months) turns harder and sharper as more acid accumulates. Cheese aged for many months turns very hard and needs toi be grated, such as Parmesan and the Spanish Manchego.

The kind of preservation also adds to the final character of cheese. Some cheeses are mixed with salt before being pressed, others are brined and one (Manchego) is aged in olive oil.

Sample and enjoy.