Difference between revisions of "Cheese"

Latest revision as of 19:14, June 19, 2020

Tillamook Colby and Cheddar, American cheeses.

Cheese is a solidified dairy product. Cheese making starts with the solidification of milk proteins, usually by the addition of rennet (a mixture of enzymes) or an edible acid, which produces curds. For most types of cheese, the curds are separated from the liquid, the whey, and then aged, sometimes for many years. Salt is also often an ingredient in cheese recipes.

Sources Used to Make Cheese

Most cheese is made from cow's milk, although technically, any large mammal's milk can be used. Some common sources of milk for making cheese other than cows include:

Goat milk (e.g. ChÃ¨vre cheese, chÃ¨vre is French for goat)
Sheep milk (e.g. Roquefort)
Yak milk.
Buffalo milk

Cheese History

France is especially renowned as a cheese producer, and their president Charles de Gaulle famously saidÂ : "How can a country with 300 different kinds of cheese agree on anything?". Many cheeses are made from unpasteurized milk and their import into the USA forbidden for health reasons owing to potentially toxic bacterium listeria. Physicians recommend that the cheeses should not be consumed by pregnant women or young children. Certain French cheeses (such as Epoisses) are so smelly to keep up the urban legend that their carriage is banned even on French public transport.

It is most likely that the invention of cheesemaking was a way of preserving excess milk for leaner times.

Varieties

There are literally thousands of varieties of cheese made in the world today. The best selection with more than thousand varieties is offered in the Kaufhaus des Westen, Berlin, Germany [1]. Some well known varieties are:

Hard cheeses

Cheddar (A hard red, yellow or white cheese, originally from the English West country (The Cheddar Gorge), but also now made worldwide in countries including Ireland, Canada, New Zealand, and Scotland.)
Parmesan (Italian very hard cheese)
Romano (Another Italian hard cheese)
Gouda (Dutch cheese, with a yellow wax rind)
Monterey Jack (American)
Colby (American, sometimes blended with Monterey Jack)
Mozzarella (A very soft white cheese from Italy, in some places it is still made the traditional way, with buffalo milk)
Emmentaler (A Swiss cheese, characterized by large holes)
GruyÃ¨re (A flavorful Swiss cheese which is very dry and hard, somewhat like Parmesan)
Cheshire (A hard red or white cheese, more crumbly than Cheddar with a salty taste. Made in Cheshire or North Shropshire. Mrs Appleby's Cheshire has won international renown.)

Blue cheeses

Blue Stilton (English crumbly blue cheese, a non-blue variety also exists)
Roquefort (The French king of blue cheeses, made from sheep's milk in a cave.)
Cheshire Blue (Mild blue cheese with a salty flavor)

Soft cheeses

Feta (Soft and crumbly Greek sheep's or mixture of sheep's and goat's milk cheese)
Brie (a French soft cheese, not particularly smelly)
Camembert (a French soft cheese, fairly smelly)
Muenster (a French soft cheese)
Cottage cheese (a very runny soft curd cheese)
Cream cheese (a mild soft white cheese)
NeufchÃ¢tel (a French soft and crumbly)

Synthetic cheeses

American or processed cheese, a very mild ersatz cheddar with a smooth texture, often delivered by unusual methods, such as in cans, as strings, or as a spray. Though considered by many connoisseurs to have an unpleasantly chemical or plasticy taste and no significant texture, its very low cost had lead to its use as a 'generic' cheese for snacks, fast-food, burgers, or any meal in which a cheese is used to enhance another element of a meal rather than form a more significant taste.

Non-cheese cheeses

Head cheese, known as brawn in the UK and by other names in other parts of the world, is made from meat taken from the head of an animalÂ â pigs, calves and cows are usedÂ â that might otherwise remain uneaten for aesthetic reasons. It sometimes includes meat from other normally unappetizing areas such as the feet or organs. The meat is chopped or shredded and set in gelatine. It is usually eaten cold or at room temperature as a luncheon meat. In the southern states of the US this is sometimes also known as sousemeat and pickled in vinegar.

Lemon cheese is another name for lemon curd in the UK. Fruit cheeses are sometimes made with other citrus fruit.

Cheese in Culture

In England, the traditional sport of cheese-rolling remains locally popular. [2]

James McIntyre, a Canadian poet, was fond of writing poems and odes to cheese. This is not because he thought the subject was funny, or ironic. Rather, McIntyre saw cheese production in Canada as a symbol of the strong growth in the Canadian economy. Many people today find his works quite humorous, but McIntyre's "Ode on the Mammoth Cheese" is considered by most poetry scholars not only his best work, but his ultimate achievement.

The original family name of comedian John Cleese was Cheese, but was changed to Cleese by his father. Cleese is famous, of course, for playing the frustrated customer in the Cheese Shop sketch on the Monty Python's Flying Circus television show.

Cheese is considered by some as a palliative for various internal diseases.

In the animated series Wallace and Gromit, cheese plays an important role. Not only is Wensleydale cheese their favorite variety but in A Grand Day Out they visit the moon because it is made of cheese.

Cheese Gallery

AllgÃ¤uer BergkÃ¤se cheese.
Antigo Stravecchio Parmesan cheese.
Beaufort d'Alpage cheese.
Bel Paese cheese.
Blue Stilton cheese.
Brie cheese.
Couronne Brie cheese.
Dorset Blue Vinny cheese
The Edam.
Emmi Cave Aged Emmentaler cheese.
Emmi Cave Aged GruyÃ¨re cheese.
Lancashire cheese.
Limberger cheese.
Mozzarella cheese.
White Cheddar cheese.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-Cheese is a solid food made from the milk of cows, goats, sheep, and other mammals. Cheese is made by curdling milk using a combination of rennet (or rennet substitutes) and acidification. Bacteria acidify the milk and play a role in defining the texture and flavor of most cheeses. Some cheeses also feature molds, either on the outer rind or throughout.
+[[Image:Tillamook Cheese.jpg|right|thumb|250px|Tillamook Colby and Cheddar, American cheeses.]]
-There are hundreds of types of cheese produced all over the world. Different styles and flavors of cheese are the result of using milk from various mammals or with different butterfat contents, employing particular species of bacteria and molds, and varying the length of aging and other processing treatments. Other factors include animal diet and the addition of flavoring agents such as herbs, spices, or wood smoke. Whether the milk is pasteurized may also affect the flavor. The yellow to red coloring of many cheeses is a result of adding annatto. Cheeses are eaten both on their own and cooked as part of various dishes; most cheeses melt when heated.
+'''Cheese''' is a solidified dairy product. Cheese making starts with the solidification of milk proteins, usually by the addition of [[rennet]] (a mixture of [[enzyme]]s) or an edible acid, which produces [[curds]]. For most types of cheese, the curds are separated from the liquid, the [[whey]], and then [[aging|aged]], sometimes for many years. Salt is also often an ingredient in cheese recipes.
-For a few cheeses, the milk is curdled by adding acids such as vinegar or lemon juice. Most cheeses, however, are acidified to a lesser degree by bacteria, which turn milk sugars into lactic acid, followed by the addition of rennet to complete the curdling. Rennet is an enzyme mixture traditionally obtained from the stomach lining of young cattle, but now also laboratory produced. Vegetarian alternatives to rennet are available; most are produced by fermentation of the fungus Mucor miehei, but others have been extracted from various species of the Cynara thistle family.
+==Sources Used to Make Cheese==
-No one categorization scheme can capture all the diversity of the world's cheeses. Some common systems used are:
+Most cheese is  made from [[cow]]'s [[milk]], although technically, any large [[mammal]]'s milk can be used.  Some common sources of milk for making cheese other than cows include:
-Length of aging.
+*[[Goat]] milk (e.g. Chèvre cheese, chèvre is French for goat)
-Texture (hard or soft); this is correlated to the moisture content: the more moist a cheese, the softer. This classification is common in the US, but is inaccurate: many types of cheese are made in softer or firmer variations.
+*[[Sheep]] milk (e.g. Roquefort)
-Methods of making: pressed or unpressed curd, heated or unheated curd, mold growth, etc.
+*[[Yak]] milk.
-Fat content.
+*[[Buffalo]] milk
-Kind of milk (cow's milk, goat's milk cheese, etc.)
-A cheese platter with many types of cheese.
-Fresh Cheeses
-For these simplest cheeses, milk is curdled and drained, with little other processing. Examples include cottage cheese, Romanian Caş, Neufchâtel (the model for American-style cream cheese), and fresh goat's milk chèvre. Such cheeses are soft and spreadable, with a mild taste. Fresh cheeses without additional preservatives can spoil in a matter of days.
-Whey cheeses are fresh cheeses made from the whey discarded while producing other cheeses. Provencal Brousse, Corsican Brocciu, Italian Ricotta, Romanian Urda and Norwegian Geitost are examples. Brocciu is mostly eaten fresh, and is as such a major ingredient in Corsican cuisine, but it can be aged too.
+==Cheese History==
-Traditional Mozzarella also falls into the fresh cheese category. Fresh curds are stretched and kneaded in hot water to form a ball of Mozzarella, which in southern Italy is usually eaten within a few hours of being made. Other firm fresh cheeses include paneer and queso fresco.
+[[France]] is especially renowned as a cheese producer, and their president [[Charles de Gaulle]] famously said : "How can a country with 300 different kinds of cheese agree on anything?". Many cheeses are made from unpasteurized milk and their import into the USA forbidden for health reasons owing to potentially toxic bacterium ''listeria''. Physicians recommend that the cheeses should not be consumed by [[pregnancy|pregnant]] women or young children. Certain French cheeses (such as Epoisses) are so smelly to keep up the urban legend that their carriage is banned even on French [[public transport]].
+It is most likely that the invention of cheesemaking was a way of preserving excess milk for leaner times.
-Texture
+==Varieties==
-A Gouda cheese marketCategorizing cheeses by firmness is a common but inexact practice. The lines between "soft", "semi-soft", "semi-hard", and "hard" are arbitrary, and many types of cheese are made in softer or firmer variations. Harder cheeses have a lower moisture content than softer cheeses. They are generally packed into molds under more pressure and aged for a longer time.
-The familiar cheddar is one of a family of semi-hard or hard cheeses (including Cheshire and Gloucester) whose curd is cut, gently heated, piled, and stirred before being pressed into forms. Colby and Monterey Jack are similar but milder cheeses; their curd is rinsed before it is pressed, washing away some acidity and calcium. A similar curd-washing takes place when making the Dutch cheeses Edam and Gouda.
+There are literally thousands of varieties of cheese made in the world today. The best selection with more than thousand varieties is offered in the Kaufhaus des Westen, Berlin, Germany [http://www.kadewe-berlin.de/kaese_engl.php]. Some well known varieties are:
-Swiss-style cheeses like Emmental and Gruyère are generally quite firm. The same bacteria that give Emmental its holes contribute to their aromatic and sharp flavors. The hardest cheeses — "grating cheeses" such as Parmesan, Pecorino, and Romano — are quite firmly packed into large forms and aged for months or years.
+===Hard cheeses===
+*Cheddar (A hard red, yellow or white cheese, originally from the [[England|English]] West country (The Cheddar Gorge), but also now made worldwide in countries including [[Ireland]], [[Canada]], [[New Zealand]], and [[Scotland]].)
+*Parmesan ([[Italy|Italian]] very hard cheese)
+*Romano (Another [[Italy|Italian]] hard cheese)
+*Gouda ([[Netherlands|Dutch]] cheese, with a yellow wax rind)
+*Monterey Jack ([[America]]n)
+*Colby ([[America]]n, sometimes blended with Monterey Jack)
+*Mozzarella (A very soft white cheese from [[Italy]], in some places it is still made the traditional way, with buffalo milk)
+*Emmentaler (A [[Switzerland|Swiss]] cheese, characterized by large holes)
+*Gruyère (A flavorful [[Switzerland|Swiss]] cheese which is very dry and hard, somewhat like Parmesan)
+*Cheshire (A hard red or white cheese, more crumbly than Cheddar with a salty taste. Made in [[Cheshire]] or North Shropshire.  Mrs Appleby's Cheshire has won international renown.)
+===Blue cheeses===
+*Blue Stilton ([[England|English]] crumbly blue cheese, a non-blue variety also exists)
+*Roquefort (The [[France|French]] king of blue cheeses, made from sheep's milk in a cave.)
+*Cheshire Blue (Mild blue cheese with a salty flavor)
-Methods
+===Soft cheeses===
+*Feta (Soft and crumbly [[Greece|Greek]] sheep's or mixture of sheep's and goat's milk cheese)
+*Brie (a [[France|French]] soft cheese, not particularly smelly)
+*Camembert (a [[France|French]] soft cheese, fairly smelly)
+*Muenster (a [[France|French]] soft cheese)
+*Cottage cheese (a very runny soft curd cheese)
+*Cream cheese (a mild soft white cheese)
+* Neufchâtel (a [[France|French]] soft and crumbly)
-Use of mold
+===Synthetic cheeses===
-Soft-ripened cheeses such as Brie and Camembert are made by allowing white Penicillium candida or P. camemberti mold to grow on the outside of a soft cheese for a few days or weeks. The mold forms a white crust and contributes to the smooth, runny, or gooey textures and more intense flavors of these aged cheeses. Goats' milk cheeses are often treated in a similar manner, sometimes with white molds (Chèvre-Boîte) and sometimes with blue.
+*American or processed cheese, a very mild [[ersatz]] cheddar with a smooth texture, often delivered by unusual methods, such as in cans, as strings, or as a spray. Though considered by many connoisseurs to have an unpleasantly chemical or plasticy taste and no significant texture, its very low cost had lead to its use as a 'generic' cheese for snacks, fast-food, burgers, or any meal in which a cheese is used to enhance another element of a meal rather than form a more significant taste.
-Blue-mold cheeses like Roquefort, Gorgonzola, and Stilton are produced by inoculating loosely pressed curds with Penicillium roqueforti or Penicillium glaucum molds. The mold grows within the cheese as it ages. These cheeses have distinct blue veins and, often, assertive flavors. Their texture can be soft or firm.
+==Non-cheese cheeses==
+Head cheese, known as brawn in the [[UK]] and by other names in other parts of the world, is made from meat taken from the head of an animal&nbsp;– pigs, calves and cows are used&nbsp;– that might otherwise remain uneaten for aesthetic reasons. It sometimes includes meat from other normally unappetizing areas such as the feet or organs. The meat is chopped or shredded and set in [[gelatine]]. It is usually eaten cold or at room temperature as a luncheon meat. In the southern states of the [[US]] this is sometimes also known as sousemeat and pickled in vinegar.
-Washing
+[[Lemon]] cheese is another name for lemon curd in the [[UK]]. Fruit cheeses are sometimes made with other citrus fruit.
-Washed-rind cheeses are periodically bathed in a saltwater brine as they age, making their surfaces amenable to a class of bacteria (the reddish-orange "smear bacteria") which impart pungent odors and distinctive flavors. Washed-rind cheeses can be soft (Limburger), semi-hard (Munster), or hard (Appenzeller).
+==Cheese in Culture==
-Processed cheese
+In [[England]], the traditional sport of [[cheese-rolling]] remains locally popular. [http://www.cheese-rolling.co.uk/]
-Processed cheese is made from traditional cheese and emulsifying salts, often with the addition of milk, more salt, preservatives, and food coloring. It is inexpensive, consistent, and melts smoothly. This is the most-consumed category of cheese in the United States. The most familiar processed cheese may be pre-sliced mild yellow American Cheese or Velveeta. Many other varieties exist, including Easy Cheese, a Kraft Foods brand sold in a spray can.
+[[James McIntyre]], a [[Canadian]] poet, was fond of writing [[poems]] and [[ode]]s to cheese. This is not because he thought the subject was funny, or ironic. Rather, McIntyre saw cheese production in [[Canada]] as a [[symbol]] of the strong growth in the Canadian [[economy]]. Many people today find his works quite humorous, but McIntyre's "[[Ode on the Mammoth Cheese]]" is considered by most poetry [[scholars]] not only his best work, but his ultimate achievement.
-Health and nutrition
+The original family name of comedian [[John Cleese]] was Cheese, but was changed to Cleese by his father.  Cleese is famous, of course, for playing the frustrated customer in the Cheese Shop sketch on the ''[[Monty Python|Monty Python's Flying Circus]]'' television show.
-Cheese selection on market stand in Basel, Switzerland.In general, cheese supplies a great deal of calcium, protein, and phosphorus. A 30-gram (about one ounce) serving of cheddar cheese contains about seven grams of protein and 200 milligrams of calcium. Nutritionally, cheese is essentially concentrated milk: it takes about 200 grams (seven ounces) of milk to provide that much protein, and 150 grams to equal the calcium.[15]
-Cheese shares milk's nutritional disadvantages as well. The Center for Science in the Public Interest describes cheese as America's number one source of saturated fat, adding that the average American ate 30 pounds (13.6 kg) of cheese in the year 2000, up from 11 pounds (5 kg) in 1970.[16] Their recommendation is to limit full-fat cheese consumption to two ounces (60 grams) a week. Whether cheese's highly saturated fat actually leads to an increased risk of heart disease is called into question when considering France and Greece, which lead the world in cheese eating (more than 14 ounces (400 grams) a week per person, or over 45 pounds (20 kg) a year) yet have relatively low rates of heart disease.[17] This seeming discrepancy is called the French Paradox; the higher rates of consumption of red wine in these countries is often invoked as at least a partial explanation.
+Cheese is considered by some as a palliative for various internal diseases.
-A number of food safety agencies around the world have warned of the risks of raw-milk cheeses. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration states that soft raw-milk cheeses can cause "serious infectious diseases including listeriosis, brucellosis, salmonellosis and tuberculosis".[18] It is U.S. law since 1944 that all raw-milk cheeses (including imports since 1951) must be aged at least 60 days. Australia has a wide ban on raw-milk cheeses as well, though in recent years exceptions have been made for Swiss Gruyère, Emmental and Sbrinz, and for French Roquefort.[19] Some say these worries are overblown, pointing out that pasteurization of the milk used to make cheese does not ensure its safety in any case.[20] This is supported by statistics showing that in Europe (where young raw-milk cheeses are still legal in some countries), most cheese-related food poisoning incidents were traced to pasteurized cheeses. Pregnant women may face an additional risk from cheese; the U.S. Centers for Disease Control has warned pregnant women against eating soft-ripened cheeses and blue-veined cheeses, due to the listeria risk to the unborn baby.[21]
+In the animated series  ''[[Wallace and Gromit]]'', cheese plays an important role. Not only is Wensleydale cheese their favorite variety but in ''A Grand Day Out'' they visit the moon because it is made of cheese.
-Some studies claim to show that cheeses including Cheddar, Mozzarella, Swiss and American can help to prevent tooth decay.[22] Several mechanisms for this protection have been proposed:
+==Cheese Gallery==
-The calcium, protein, and phosphorus in cheese may act to protect tooth enamel.
+<gallery>
-Cheese increases saliva flow, washing away acids and sugars.
+Image:Allgauer Bergkäse cheese.jpg|Allgäuer Bergkäse cheese.
-Cheese may have an antibacterial effect in the mouth.
+Image:Stravecchio Parmesan cheese.jpg|Antigo Stravecchio Parmesan cheese.
-Cheese is often avoided by those who are lactose intolerant, but ripened cheeses like Cheddar contain only about 5% of the lactose found in whole milk, and aged cheeses contain almost none.[23] Some people suffer reactions to amines found in cheese, particularly histamine and tyramine. Some aged cheeses contain significant concentrations of these amines, which can trigger symptoms mimicking an allergic reaction: headaches, rashes, and blood pressure elevations.
+Image:Beaufort d'Alpage Cheese.jpg|Beaufort d'Alpage cheese.
+Image:Bel Paese Cheese.jpg|Bel Paese cheese.
+Image:Cheese.jpg|Blue Stilton cheese.
+Image:Brie Cheese.jpg|Brie cheese.
+Image:Couronne Brie Cheese.jpg|Couronne Brie cheese.
+Image:Dorset Blue Vinny Cheese.jpg|Dorset Blue Vinny cheese
+File:The Edam cheese flc.jpg|The Edam.
+Image:Emmi Emmentaler cheese.jpg|Emmi Cave Aged Emmentaler cheese.
+Image:Emmi Gruyère Cheese.jpg|Emmi Cave Aged Gruyère cheese.
+Image:Lancashire Cheese.jpg|Lancashire cheese.
+Image:Limberger cheese.jpg|Limberger cheese.
+Image:Mozzarella Cheese.jpg|Mozzarella cheese.
+Image:White Cheddar Cheese.jpg|White Cheddar cheese.
+</gallery>
-It should also perhaps be noted that under certain scientifically controlled dietery studies, people whose diets which particularly consisted of the high intake of dairy foods had shown that obesity had prevailed at a higher rate than of those persons whose diets consisted of only vegetable based fats.[citation needed]
+<references/>
+[[Category:Dairy products]]
-Making cheese
-Curdling
-The only strictly required step in making any sort of cheese is separating the milk into solid curds and liquid whey. Usually this is done by acidifying the milk and adding rennet. The acidification is accomplished directly by the addition of an acid like vinegar in a few cases (paneer, queso fresco), but usually starter bacteria are employed instead. These starter bacteria convert milk sugars into lactic acid. The same bacteria (and the enzymes they produce) also play a large role in the eventual flavor of aged cheeses. Most cheeses are made with starter bacteria from the Lactococci, Lactobacilli, or Streptococci families. Swiss starter cultures also include Propionibacter shermani, which produces carbon dioxide gas bubbles during aging, giving Swiss cheese or Emmental its holes.
-Some fresh cheeses are curdled only by acidity, but most cheeses also use rennet. Rennet sets the cheese into a strong and rubbery gel compared to the fragile curds produced by acidic coagulation alone. It also allows curdling at a lower acidity—important because flavor-making bacteria are inhibited in high-acidity environments. In general, softer, smaller, fresher cheeses are curdled with a greater proportion of acid to rennet than harder, larger, longer-aged varieties.
-Curd processing
-During industrial production of Emmental cheese, the as-yet-undrained curd is broken up by rotating mixers.At this point, the cheese has set into a very moist gel. Some soft cheeses are now essentially complete: they are drained, salted, and packaged. For most of the rest, the curd is cut into small cubes. This allows water to drain from the individual pieces of curd.
-Some hard cheeses are then heated to temperatures in the range of 35°C–55°C (100°F–130°F). This forces more whey from the cut curd. It also changes the taste of the finished cheese, affecting both the bacterial culture and the milk chemistry. Cheeses that are heated to the higher temperatures are usually made with thermophilic starter bacteria which survive this step—either lactobacilli or streptococci.
-Salt has a number of roles in cheese besides adding a salty flavor. It preserves cheese from spoiling, draws moisture from the curd, and firms up a cheese’s texture in an interaction with its proteins. Some cheeses are salted from the outside with dry salt or brine washes. Most cheeses have the salt mixed directly into the curds.
-A number of other techniques can be employed to influence the cheese's final texture and flavor. Some examples:
-Stretching: (Mozzarella, Provolone) The curd is stretched and kneaded in hot water, developing a stringy, fibrous body.
-Cheddaring: (Cheddar, other English cheeses) The cut curd is repeatedly piled up, pushing more moisture away. The curd is also mixed (or milled) for a long period of time, taking the sharp edges off the cut curd pieces and influencing the final product's texture.
-Washing: (Edam, Gouda, Colby) The curd is washed in warm water, lowering its acidity and making for a milder-tasting cheese.
-Most cheeses achieve their final shape when the curds are pressed into a mold or form. The harder the cheese, the more pressure is applied. The pressure drives out moisture — the molds are designed to allow water to escape — and unifies the curds into a single solid body.
-Aging
-A newborn cheese is usually salty yet bland in flavor and, for harder varieties, rubbery in texture. These qualities are sometimes enjoyed—cheese curds are eaten on their own—but usually cheeses are left to rest under carefully controlled conditions. This aging period (also called ripening, or, from the French, affinage) can last from a few days to several years. As a cheese ages, microbes and enzymes transform its texture and intensify its flavor. This transformation is largely a result of the breakdown of casein proteins and milkfat into a complex mix of amino acids, amines, and fatty acids.
-Vacherin du Haut-Doubs cheese, a French cheese with a white Penicillium mold rind.Some cheeses have additional bacteria or molds intentionally introduced to them before or during aging. In traditional cheesemaking, these microbes might be already present in the air of the aging room; they are simply allowed to settle and grow on the stored cheeses. More often today, prepared cultures are used, giving more consistent results and putting fewer constraints on the environment where the cheese ages.
-For the blue cheeses (Roquefort, Stilton, Gorgonzola), Penicillium mold is introduced to the curd before molding. During aging, the blue molds (P. roqueforti or P. glaucum ) grow in the small fissures in the cheese, imparting a sharp flavor and aroma. The same molds are also grown on the surface of some aged goat cheeses. The soft cheeses Brie and Camembert, among others, get a surface growth of other Penicillium species, white-colored P. candidum or P. camemberti. The surface mold contributes to the interior texture and flavor of these small cheeses.
-Some cheeses are periodically washed in a saltwater brine during their ripening. Not only does the brine carry flavors into the cheese (it might be seasoned with spices or wine), but the salty environment may nurture the growth of the Brevibacterium linens bacteria, which can impart a very pronounced odor (Limburger) and interesting flavor. The same bacteria can also have some impact on cheeses that are simply ripened in humid conditions, like Camembert. Large populations of these "smear bacteria" show up as a sticky orange-red layer on some brine-washed cheeses.
-Cheeses may be smoked during aging to produce smoked cheeses. This adds a smoky flavor and a brown or yellow color.
-Eating and cooking
-At refrigerator temperatures, the fat in a piece of cheese is as hard as unsoftened butter, and its protein structure is stiff as well. Flavor and odor compounds are less easily liberated when cold. For improvements in flavor and texture, it is widely advised that cheeses be allowed to warm up to room temperature before eating. If the cheese is further warmed, to 26–32°C (80–90°F), the fats will begin to to "sweat out" as they go beyond soft to fully liquid.[24]
-At higher temperatures, most cheeses melt. Rennet-curdled cheeses have a gel-like protein matrix that is broken down by heat. When enough protein bonds are broken, the cheese itself turns from a solid to a viscous liquid. Soft, high-moisture cheeses will melt at around 55°C (130°F), while hard, low-moisture cheeses such as Parmesan remain solid until they reach about 82°C (180°F).[25] Acid-set cheeses, including halloumi, paneer, some whey cheeses and many varieties of fresh goat cheese, have a protein structure that remains intact at high temperatures. When cooked, these cheeses just get firmer as water evaporates.
-Some cheeses, like raclette, melt smoothly; many tend to become stringy or suffer from a separation of their fats. Many of these can be coaxed into melting smoothly in the presence of acids or starch. Fondue, with wine providing the acidity, is a good example of a smoothly-melted cheese dish.[26] Elastic stringiness is a quality that is sometimes enjoyed, in dishes including pizza and Welsh rabbit. Even a melted cheese eventually turns solid again, after enough moisture is cooked off. The saying "you can't melt cheese twice" (meaning "some things can only be done once") refers to the fact that oils leach out during the first melting and are gone, leaving the non-meltable solids behind.
-As its temperature continues to rise, cheese will brown and eventually burn. Browned, partially-burned cheese has a particular distinct flavor of its own and is frequently used in cooking (e.g., sprinkling atop items before baking them).
-Cheese has been long hailed as a virtuous christian foodsource, as quoted by Crerebus in the old testament: ''the wind strokes the hills, and from its touch our cattle did grow strong as did we from their milk and cheese, and we thanked the lord''. Cheese has been a key factor in the growth of the christian society, and is evident by our tall stature and strength. It has been noted that key evidence to this can seen when viewing the population of other worldwide cultures who engage in the worship of other gods, for example the stunted nature of the asian populace.