Good Example Of Cheeses Research Paper

Establishment

Fresh Cheeses
Cottage
Country of Origin: The Netherlands
Ripening Method: This is a soft cheese ready to use immediately after production. It contains grains, washed and chilled by pasteurized water. It is not aged or colored.
Exterior/ Interior Characteristics: It is a fresh cheese with curds. Product color varies from white to light creamy.

Milk Type Used as Based: It is made from skim milk, mixed with cream.

Flavor Characteristics: It has a light flavor of yogurt or sour cream.
Fat Content: Different styles of cottage cheese have different fat levels. Commonly used are low-fat and nonfat varieties.

Ricotta

Country of Origin: Italy
Ripening Method: This is a fresh kind of cheese so it does not pass a ripening process. It is produces from liquid whey, in which acid is added during the heating process. It is not staged or colored.
Exterior/ Interior Characteristics: In appearance ricotta reminds a cottage or homemade cheese, but it is smoother than cottage, with small cuds. It has a fluffy texture and high moisture content.

Milk Type Used as Based: whey / cow's, sheep’s or goat's milk

Flavor Characteristics: has a delicate lightly sweet flavor
Fat Content: depends on the milk
Cream Cheese
Country of Origin: England and France. Both countries developed different varieties of it in their food tradition.
Ripening Method: This is a fresh kind of cheese, not naturally matured. It is prepared by heating of the pasteurized and homogenized milk and adding to it of lactic acid bacteria. The fermentation occurs at around 72 °F.
Exterior/ Interior Characteristics: it is fresh, with soft texture. It has high moisture content (more than 55%).

Milk Type Used as Based: cow's (usually), sheep’s or goat's (in some countries) milk

Flavor Characteristics: has a delicate lightly sweet flavor compared to Mascarpone
Fat Content: high fat content (at least 33% milk fat)
Neufchatel
Country of Origin: France (Normandy)
Ripening Method: Usually it is matured for the period of 8–10 weeks.
Exterior/ Interior Characteristics: It is white and looks like Camamber. It has dry and grainy texture. Its rind is edible.

Milk Type Used as Based: cow’s milk

Flavor Characteristics: salt and sharp flavor that reminds mushrooms in taste and aroma.
Fat Content: about 23 percent fat.
Mascarpone
Country of Origin: Italy

Ripening Method: It is producing from cream by adding of citric acid or acetic acid.

Exterior/ Interior Characteristics: It has milky-white color, creamy texture, which makes it perfect for the desserts.
Milk Type Used as Based: cow milk
Flavor Characteristics: It is similar in flavor to cream but is much thicker, the flavor is neutral.
Fat Content: It has approximately 75 percent of fat
Goat
Country of Origin: Italy
Ripening Method: It is producing from a raw milk, which is naturally curdling (itself or with the help of lemon juice or vinegar). Then, it is draining and pressed.
Exterior/ Interior Characteristics: It is soft, with quite solid texture. It has milky-white color.

Milk Type Used as Based: majorly goat's milk

Flavor Characteristics: It is salty, without any strong aroma
Fat Content: It has approximately 13 percent of fat, but depends on the technology and kind of milk.
Feta
Country of Origin: Greece
Ripening Method: It is producing from a raw milk, which is cooled to 95 °F, the rennet is added and the liquid is left to coagulate. After it, the solid cheese is cut, salted and placed for 3 days into metal vessels or wooden barrels.
Exterior/ Interior Characteristics: It is soft, with lightly grainy texture. It has milky-white color.

Milk Type Used as Based: Sheep’s milk (rarely a mixture of sheep and goat's milk).

Flavor Characteristics: It has a strong, salty flavor and aromas of yoghurt with a spicy finish.
Fat Content: It has approximately 43 percent of a minimum fat content in a dry matter.
Soft Cheeses
Brie
Country of Origin: France
Ripening Method: It is produced from whole or semi-skimmed milk. The rennet is added to raw milk, then it is heated to 99 °F. The solid matter received is cut and drained. Then the cheese is salted and stored. Its aging time is approximately 5-6 weeks.
Exterior/ Interior Characteristics: It is soft-ripened, characterized by a pale grayish tint under the "lofty" white mold. Brie cheese usually has a round shape with a diameter of 30-60 cm and a thickness of 3-5 cm. Rind crust has a distinct aroma of ammonia, but is edible.
Milk Type Used as Based: cow’s milk

Flavor Characteristics: It has a pleasant, mild and delicate flavor, maturing it becomes spicy.

Fat Content: It has approximately 60% of butterfat, which is 31% of fat in the cheese.
Camembert
Country of Origin: France
Ripening Method: It is made from pasteurised or raw milk. The rind is eatable.
Exterior/ Interior Characteristics: Its color varies from white to creamy-white. Outside it is covered with a fluffy white rind. The texture is soft inside, crumbly and bland.
Milk Type Used as Based: cow’s milk
Flavor Characteristics: Matured, it has a strong spicy, salty flavor that reminds mushrooms. In general its flavor is very rich, sometimes, it is sweet and milky.

Fat Content: 45%

Boursin
Country of Origin: France
Ripening Method: It is made from pasteurized cow's milk. The rind is absent.
Exterior/ Interior Characteristics: It is a fresh and soft cheese, flavored with herbs and spices. It has a light crumbly texture.
Milk Type Used as Based: cow’s milk

Flavor Characteristics: buttery flavor with the taste of added elements: herbs and spices.

Fat Content: 60%
Limburger
Country of Origin: three European countries: Belgium, Germany and Netherlands
Ripening Method: It is made from pasteurized cow's milk. The rind is washed after what it becomes almost orange. It is matured for 3 months.

Exterior/ Interior Characteristics: It has crumbly and creamy, smooth and firm characteristics. It has a straw color

Milk Type Used as Based: cow’s milk
Flavor Characteristics: It is a stinky cheese. It has a strong mushroomy, grassy and mild taste.

Fat Content: in dry matter it has 42%

Explorateur
Country of Origin: France
Ripening Method: It is made from pasteurized cow's milk without pressing.
Exterior/ Interior Characteristics: It has a smooth texture. It has an ivory color.
Milk Type Used as Based: cow’s milk

Flavor Characteristics: It has a light mild flavor.

Fat Content: 75%
Saint-André
Country of Origin: France

Ripening Method: It is made from pasteurized or unpasteurized cow's milk.

Exterior/ Interior Characteristics: It has a soft, dense and creamy texture. It has a milky color.
Milk Type Used as Based: cow’s milk

Flavor Characteristics: It has a rich and salty flavor and strong aroma.

Fat Content: 75%
Brillat –Savarin
Country of Origin: France

Ripening Method: It is made from pasteurized cow's milk with adding of rich quantity of cream.

Exterior/ Interior Characteristics: It has a soft and creamy texture and intense yellow milky color with white upper rind.
Milk Type Used as Based: cow’s milk

Flavor Characteristics: It has a rich buttery, nutty and lightly sour flavor with a strong milky aroma.

Fat Content: 75%
Semi-Soft
Bel Paese
Country of Origin: Italy

Ripening Method: It is made from a raw milk and is matured for 6 weeks.

Exterior/ Interior Characteristics: It has a pale yellow color. Inside, it is quite soft but has a solid rind.
Milk Type Used as Based: cow’s milk

Flavor Characteristics: It has a milky aroma and rich buttery flavor with sweet taste.

Fat Content: 75%
Port Du Salute
Country of Origin: France

Ripening Method: It is made from a pasteurised cow's milk.

Exterior/ Interior Characteristics: It is a semi-soft cheese, which has a creamy and smooth texture. Its color is light yellow.
Milk Type Used as Based: cow’s milk

Flavor Characteristics: It has a milky aroma and acidic, mellow flavor.

Fat Content: 72.7%
Munster
Country of Origin: France

Ripening Method: It is made from crude milk.

Exterior/ Interior Characteristics: It is a semi-soft cheese, which has a creamy and smooth texture. Its color is lightly ivory.
Milk Type Used as Based: cow’s milk
Flavor Characteristics: It has a milky aroma and cumin flavor. The rind has a strong aroma and tangy flavor.

Fat Content: 45-50%

Stilton
Country of Origin: Great Britain
Ripening Method: It is made from cow's pasteurised milk.
Exterior/ Interior Characteristics: It is a semi-soft cheese with a soft texture and blue must.
Milk Type Used as Based: cow’s milk
Flavor Characteristics: It is a blue cheese with a strong salty flavor. It has a strong aroma.

Fat Content: 35%

Gorgonzola
Country of Origin: Italy
Ripening Method: It is made unskimmed cow's milk. It is stored for 3-4 months to get the cheese.
Exterior/ Interior Characteristics: It is a semi-soft cheese with a crumble texture. It has a creamy color with blue veins.
Milk Type Used as Based: cow’s milk

Flavor Characteristics: It has a very strong flavor and aroma due to blue veins of must in it.

Fat Content: 25-35%
Edam
Country of Origin: USA
Ripening Method: It is made from a raw cow's milk. It is aged for 2-4 month.
Exterior/ Interior Characteristics: It is a semi-soft cheese with a crumble texture. It has a creamy color with blue veins.
Milk Type Used as Based: cow’s milk
Flavor Characteristics: It has a mild creamy flavor and aroma. It can have flavor of grass and cream in the case of longer aging.

Fat Content: 35%

Gouda
Country of Origin: The Netherlands
Ripening Method: It is made from pasteurised milk. It is aged for a very long time.
Exterior/ Interior Characteristics: It is a semi-hard cheese with a smooth texture. It has a creamy color. Outside it is hard. Inside it is dense, springy and creamy.
Milk Type Used as Based: cow’s milk
Flavor Characteristics: It has salt flavor similar to toffee. Its aoma and flavor depend on the aging of the cheese. Usually it has a unique and very rich flavor. Sometimes it is nutty and sweet.

Fat Content: 76%

Firm
Monterey Jack
Country of Origin: USA
Ripening Method: It is made from pasteurised milk. It is aged for a little period.
Exterior/ Interior Characteristics: It is a a semi-firm cheese with creamy texture. It has a pale yellow color. Outside it is hard. Inside it is dense.
Milk Type Used as Based: cow’s milk

Flavor Characteristics: It is a mild buttery flavored cheese with a strong aroma.

Fat Content: 74.6%
Cheddar
Country of Origin: Great Britain
Ripening Method: It is aging from 9 to 24 month.
Exterior/ Interior Characteristics: Inside, Cheddar is plastic. It has ivory or yellowish color. Sometimes, in the process of production, the natural colorant is used. The texture of the cheese is smooth, outside it is hard.
Milk Type Used as Based: cow’s milk
Flavor Characteristics: Cheddar has nutty and slightly spicy and sourish taste. The more mature it is, the richer taste it has.

Fat Content: 72%

Colby
Country of Origin: Great Britain
Ripening Method: It is made from pasteurised cow’s milk. It passes chedaring process. It is produced with a washed curd process that reduces the acid content and makes cheese less tangy.
Exterior/ Interior Characteristics: It is similr to Cheddar. It is plastic. It has ivory or yellowish color. But it has higher moisture in it.
Milk Type Used as Based: cow’s milk
Flavor Characteristics: It is similar to Cheddar and has sourish and sweet taste. The more mature it is, the richer taste it has.

Fat Content: 72%

Emmentaler or Emmental
Country of Origin: Switzerland
Ripening Method: It is produced from a raw cow’s milk.
Exterior/ Interior Characteristics: Outside, it is hard with a thin rind. Inside, it is plastic. It has ivory or yellowish color. The texture of the cheese is smooth. It has big holes of a nut size.
Milk Type Used as Based: cow’s milk

Flavor Characteristics: It has a sourish taste and a unique aroma.

Fat Content: 72%
Gruyere
Country of Origin: Switzerland
Ripening Method: It is made from a raw cow’s milk. A raw milk is heated to 93 F and liquid rennet is added for curdling. They are cut and coked at 110 F. After the temperature is raised up to 130 F. The cheese is salted during 8 days and then goes stored.
Exterior/ Interior Characteristics: Its texture is dense and compact. It has a yellow pale color. Outside, it is hard with a thin brown rind.
Milk Type Used as Based: cow’s milk

Flavor Characteristics: It has a pleasant salty flavor and creamy aroma.

Fat Content: 40-46%
Jarisberg
Country of Origin: Italy
Ripening Method: It is aged for a period more than one year. The production has a secret formula.
Exterior/ Interior Characteristics: It is a semi-hard cheese of a yellow color. It has a creamy texture and hard outside rind. It contains holes.
Milk Type Used as Based: cow’s milk

Flavor Characteristics: It has a buttery mild taste.

Fat Content: 60%

Provolone

Country of Origin:
Ripening Method: It is maturing for approximately for 4 month.
Exterior/ Interior Characteristics: It has a pale yellow color. Sometimes, it can be white and creamy.
Milk Type Used as Based: cow’s milk
Flavor Characteristics: It has a sweet taste. It is rich, spicy and tangy.

Fat Content: 72%

Hard
Romano
Country of Origin: Italy
Ripening Method: It is made of cow, sheep, goat's milk or mixtures of them. Usually, it is pasteurised with animal, plant, or microbial rennet. It is staged for 5 month.
Exterior/ Interior Characteristics: It has brittle rind. Inside, it has solid, dense texture.
Milk Type Used as Based: cow’s milk

Flavor Characteristics: It has extremely strong and sharp flavor.

Fat Content: 60%

Parmesan

Country of Origin: Italy

Ripening Method: It is produced from cow’s grazing on fresh grass and hay.

Exterior/ Interior Characteristics: It has a hard and gritty texture.
Milk Type Used as Based: cow’s milk

Flavor Characteristics: It is nutty and salty in flavor.

Fat Content: 52%
Asiago
Country of Origin: Italy

Ripening Method: It is matured for 4-6 months.

Exterior/ Interior Characteristics: It has a soft, smooth texture. It has yellow color. It is compact and crumby.

Milk Type Used as Based: sheep's milk

Flavor Characteristics: It has a shrp milky taste and aroma.
Fat Content: 34-48%Part B:
1. Explain the statement “cheeses are a product of their environment”.
Cheese is an ancient product that has the origins older than written history. So far, there is no conclusive evidence to indicate exactly where the original manufacturing process of cheese was born: in Europe, Central Asia, the Middle East or the Sahara. However, it is clear that different types of cheeses and various methods of its production are explained by different environmental conditions. They depend on the chemical characteristics of the milk, on its type. It can be sheep, goat, cow’s milk or a mixture of all of them. Moreover the composition of milk varies and depends on the breed and the age of the cows, feeding and housing conditions, level of productivity and the way of milking, the lactation period and other factors. That is why cheeses represent the product of their environment. They reflect the conditions of the territory, climate and traditions.
2. List and explain the four (4) basic steps in the cheese making process.
In the production of cheese, historically, lies the technology of transformation of the specific types of milk into cheese cylinders using rennet enzymes from the stomach of ruminant animals (Fox, 1993, p.15). Hundreds of different varieties of cheese are produced in the world. Despite the variety of different production technologies, the basic principles of the manufacture of cheeses are the same. The entire process of making cheese can be classified into 6 main stages, according to Harbutt (1999, p.11):
1. Pasteurisation. Is the heating of the milk to a very high temperature. It is important to note that some types of cheese are made from raw milk. At this point, depending on the milk cheese acquires its special characteristics.
2. Cruding. By adding acid or lemon juice, ferments of milk are separating and form the dense mass.
3. Heating. At this point, the cheese mass is subjected to certain processes, contributing to the separation of the whey. Sometimes, to speed up the process of draining the whey, cheese mass is heated. If necessary, add the spices, spices or other ingredients that help give future cheese a specific flavor. This phase determines the structure and taste of the cheese.
4. Pressing. At this point, the cheese is put in special forms and is pressed. It is not implemented to all cheeses. It depends on the type of cheese.
5. Salting. Cheese mass can be salted for some period according to the technology.
6. The maturing. At this stage, the cheese is wrapped in the cellar, or some other special material for maturing. Its rind is often washed and cleaned with brush. Depending on the kind of cheese, it can also be smoked, wiped with alcohol, sprinkled with spices. It is important to maintain a certain level of humidity and temperature.

The last three stages had the strongest influence on the taste, structure and appearance of the cheese.

3. Define the terms “natural cheese” and “processed cheese”.
Natural cheeses are fresh types of the product that are not going through the process of pressing, heating, maturing and other treatments with the adding of artificial elements. Like homemade cheese, they are manufactured from raw milk and bacterium that provokes the natural process of curding.
4. Discuss how you would go about selecting cheeses for a cheese platter.
French people serve cheese platter as a full meal, snack to wine, and even as a dessert. Kindstedt suggests that it all depends on how the plate is served and which kinds of cheese it contains (Kindstedt, 2012, p. 36). Usually the cheeses have a clockwise order and are situated from the most delicate to the most piquant. Between contrasting varieties, there are some fruits. The number of cheeses on a plate must be odd: 3, 5, 7 and so on.
Cheese plate should have a rich assortment. Ideal plate should contain: fresh goat cheese, soft white cheese such as Brie or Camembert, semi-soft cheese from cow's milk, blue cheese such as Stilton or Roquefort, Gorgozola and hard cheese. They can be sliced in thin layers, turned in the tubules or diced. The most ideal cut is when the edge of the crust and the core are visible. The French are usually served with cheeses different fruits. For example, the blue cheese goes best with cherries, pineapple or kiwi, and mild varieties of pears. With blue cheese perfectly stalk celery. It is impossible to imagine the cheese plate without grapes. It is also worth to add figs (fresh and dried) and apples. Tree nuts (almonds, walnuts, wild nuts) can be submitted to the cheese of any kind. Different kinds of jams are combined perfectly with the cheese.

References

Harbutt, J. (1999). Cheese. Minocqua, Wis.: Willow Creek Press.
Fox, P. (1993). Cheese: Chemistry, Physics and Microbiology Volume 1 General Aspects(Second ed.). Boston, MA: Springer US.
Kindstedt, P. (2012). Cheese and culture: A history of cheese and its place in western civilization. White River Junction, Vermont: Chelsea Green Pub.