But much raw milk comes from certified dairies that have to undergo stringent sanitation requirements and testing. In the U. Any pathogens in the milk should die out during this time, and the acidity generated by the cheesemaking process will prevent pathogens from the environment from taking hold. Raw milk cheeses from outside the U.
The initial reaction goes like this: 3 lactic acid molecules form 1 acetic acid molecule, 2 propionic acid molecules, 1 carbon dioxide molecule, and 1 water molecule. Extra oxygen and hydrogen atoms are also produced, and these go toward an enzyme that transports energy within the bacterial cells. The cheese is made with a relatively low NaCl level, which allows the bacteria to survive. About a third of the of the gas escapes into the air, half of it stays dissolved in the curd, and the rest forms the eyes.
If lactase is not present, the lactose moves to the large intestine where bacteria metabolize it, generating uncomfortable gas in the form of carbon dioxide, hydrogen, and methane, as well as drawing water from the intestinal wall -- causing diarrhea. The ability to digest lactose appears to involve evolutionary and demographic factors along with genetic, physiological, and social aspects. Lactase persistence apparently arose as a result of a mutation of a particular gene some 7, to 10, years ago within dairy farmers in Central Europe.
Vitamin D is necessary for absorption of calcium and phosphate, and milk serves as a good source for both in the higher latitudes of Eurasia where the production of vitamin D in the skin is hampered by lower levels of sunlight.
As a result, some African and Middle Eastern populations can digest milk. By doing this, the milk thickens yogurt instead of forming curds cheese. The starter is added after the milk is homogenized and cooled to degrees, and the temperature is held there for hours. The result is a gel with a pH of 4. To compare this to cheese: Milk has a pH around 6. A pound of milk is needed to make a pound of regular yogurt … but four pounds are required to obtain a pound of strained yogurt.
Asiago comes from the Asiago plateau in Northern Italy Brie was birthed in the Brie region east of Paris Great Britain, for example, produces the widest variety of cheese of any nation on earth, at around However, the Danes consume a lot of cheese, ranking 1 in the world per capita at around And, as of , it is here in the United States that we produce more cheese than anyone else in the world at The majority of cheeses made in the United States as of come from the state of Wisconsin.
So, what are the origins of this beloved product? And, how did it get from there to the point where it is now produced and consumed by the millions of tones by people all over the globe? Well, for that, we have to turn to the Neolithic period that existed between 10, BCE and around 3, BCE and formed the era in human development when there was a move from a nomadic existence predicated on the hunting of wild animals to one where animals became domesticated and crops began to be farmed and we see some of the earliest examples of human settlements.
He argued that while the domestication of animals may have happened for the primary reason, i. These included such notions as using animals to pull ploughs, to provide wool -- and hides, once the animal was killed -- to provide tools -- from bones and horns -- and, for the purposes of our story, to provide milk.
All of this occurred long before recorded history, there is obviously no way of knowing exactly when someone first began to recognize the benefits of milk.
However, there was one significant barrier to milk becoming a regular part of the human diet at this period, and that was the fact that for most of human history, people have lacked the ability to tolerate the lactose in milk very soon after its needs in infancy are met. This is likely in part the reason why dairy products rarely form part of Southeast Asian cuisines. Again, we know this through Lipid Analysis, which shows us that Neolithic populations were beginning to create dairy products that included yogurt and cheese.
Fermenting breaks down the lactose in milk, and in cheesemaking, the separation of the curds and whey -- where about half of the carbohydrates in whey concentrate contains most of the lactose sugars -- made the end product more palatable. Archaeological research has found clay sieves from the region that is now Poland — they are believed to be the earliest discovered tools used in cheese making. As well as its age, there were two other fascinating facts about the discovery of this cheese.
The second was that the sample also contained a bacteria from an infection called brucellosis, a disease caused by unpasteurized dairy and is the oldest example of that disease on record.
In the ancient world, trade records made by the Hittites dating as far back as B. In Ancient Greece, the art of cheesemaking was considered a gift from the gods, which had been bestowed on humanity by the god, Aristaeus, who in turn had been taught the art by nymphs. The cheese described was probably a forerunner of the briny Feta cheese we still eat today. Which is a very early example of city boosterism.
Are you listening, New York? I kid, I kid. The breadth of the list and the detailed descriptions Pliny gives them and their locations serve to confirm that cheese making by this period was a very sophisticated business with a very well-developed structure of import and export across the Roman Empire and beyond.
One of the real joys of researching this series of podcasts is encountering individuals whose names may be forgotten, outside of academic circles, but whose contribution to the food we eat today is not to be dismissed.
The history of cheese provides another perfect example in the form of Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella. Columella was born in Gades or present day Cadiz, Spain -- in the 1st Century CE, and moved to Italy where, after military service, he began to follow his passion for a simpler life and began farming on land near Rome.
None of this would be particularly remarkable, but for the fact that Columella began to write some of the most comprehensive works on agriculture and husbandry in his two major works, the twelve volume De Re Rustica -- On Agriculture -- and De Arboribus -- On Trees.
These works not only give us a fascinating insight into the agriculture in the Roman Empire, but also for the purposes of our story, offer up in Book VII, section 8, a real insight into the early cheese making practices and the types of textures and flavors that were most pleasing to the Roman palate.
He talks about how whey should be separated from the curds as soon as possible to avoid making too acidic a cheese, how long they should be pressed for, whether they should be brined or salted, what ingredients could be added to flavor the cheese, and even if they would benefit from being smoked. For those amongst you who are vegetarian, you will be pleased to know that Columella even offers up suggestions for curdling the milk using non-animal products by suggesting the use of thistles, safflower seeds or fig tree sap.
In Europe, in the post-Roman world -- the period known as The Middle Ages -- cheese production flourished. It was also a period when we began to see the emergence of religious institutions -- such as monasteries and convents -- who began to produce cheeses of their own, not only as an activity to prevent idleness, but also to sell to raise funds. From this tradition we can see the origins of some of the most famous cheeses in the world.
Outside of France, we have many cheeses that have become famous through the world in the last years or so. One of the most famous and widely consumed is Cheddar. Terry Simpson]. Although you can find Cheddar of varying qualities in just about every cheese section of every supermarket around the globe, the original Cheddar takes its name from a small town in the West of my homeland of Great Britain.
This area was known for its gorges and caves, which kept a constant temperature and proved highly suitable for storing and aging the hard cheeses made in the area.
Updated: Dec 10, Nina Mukerjee Furstenau. It may be dull, it may be naive, it may be over- sophisticated. Yet it remains cheese, milk's leap toward immortality. Land of milk and sandesh. For centuries, though you could slowly simmer milk to reduce it to solids kheer and make sweets, it was seriously bad form to curdle it. But the fame of Bengali sandesh and rosogolla and many other confections made with chhana , a soft ricotta-like cheese, at their base, prove there were some who dared to separate curds and whey and then went further and made sweetmeat magic happen.
When they arrived in their ships with avidity for spices and the like, the traders left behind some enticing things. Cottage cheese was relished and, apparently, the Portuguese curdled to their hearts content.
This makes me pause. The magic of sandesh see photo above, a kneaded and shaped sugar-chhana mixture and rosogolla made by boiling chhana balls in syrup for a spongier texture and delicious taste is due to Portuguese influence?
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