2023-06-18 05:53:52
The elaboration of the cheeses consists of four clearly differentiated steps: fermentation, curdling, draining and maturation of the milk. Chemical and biological elements, temperature, humidity and pressure participate in the complex equation, variables responsible for the different varieties of cheeses that we can find in the market.
Obviously, the basic and main ingredient is milk, which is responsible for the organoleptic characteristics of the cheese. The milk is introduced into a vat and heated to a temperature of 28-34ºC, while it is stirred and ferments or coagulants (rennet) are added, turning the milk into a solid state.
For tastes, the colors
Cheeses can usually be of three basic colors: orange, yellow and white. In the former there are cheeses such as Cheddar, Mimolette or Shropshire. Its color is not natural, it comes from the seed of a plant that is cultivated in South America -mainly in Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela- called annato. A dye, bixin, is extracted from it, which after applying specific conditions gives rise to a final dye, norbixin, which provides the characteristic color to the cheese.
In the case of yellow cheeses, it is due to a compound called beta-carotene, a fat-soluble substance that binds to milk fat and is concentrated during cheese making and maturing. It is a compound that is found naturally in the meadows where cows feed.
When we are faced with a white cheese, it is either fresh or goat cheese. This is because these animals transform beta-carotene into vitamin A, which is colorless.
And the blue cheeses?
Asturian Cabrales cheese, gorgonzola or Roquefort belong to the group known as “blue cheeses”, a classification of cow, sheep or goat milk cheeses in which there has been an interaction with a microscopic fungus, Penicillinum.
To achieve the proliferation of these fungi, the cheeses are cured and stored in places where there is high humidity, which is why caves are usually an excellent place to produce this kind of cheese.
The darker the color of the blue cheese and the higher the amount of Penicillium roqueforti mold, the spicier the cheese will be. Another factor to keep in mind is that, in general, blue cheeses require low storage temperatures, between 4 and 8ºC.
The color of the bark
The outer layer of the cheese is the rind, which can take on different colors, a traffic light that explains the characteristics of the milk used and its maturation. Thus, for example, the black rind usually corresponds to semi-cured blended cheeses, which have been made from various types of milk and mature for between 35 and 105 days.
If the rind is reddish or orange in color, we are dealing with a semi-cured goat cheese; if the cheese has its outer layer brown, it indicates that maturation has been prolonged -between 105 and 180 days-, which corresponds to cured cheeses.
The yellowish ocher rind (honey) is typical of old sheep cheeses, it reserves them; while dark brown rind cheeses are usually aged or gran reserva, maturing for more than nine months.
To end a story on the way to reality and legend. It is said that one day Charlemagne stopped at the house of a bishop and, since it was a Saturday he could not offer him meat, he gave him a piece of cheese. Apparently the emperor observed that the crust had a crumbly appearance, which is why he removed it with the knife. It was then that the bishop warned him: «Why, Lord Emperor, do you act in this way? What you throw away is the best.” Charlemagne, following his advice, put the moldy-looking piece in his mouth, knowing it, and said: «You have told the truth, my dear host. Therefore, do not fail to send me every year, to Aachen, two boxes of cheeses like this.
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