Cheese!

Cheese! Glorious cheese! Think cheese and you can imagine cheese with crackers, melted cheese on pizzas, boiled vegetables with layers of cheese, a ham and cheese sandwich – the possibilities are endless. Cheese is the one thing, which is used worldwide and is loved by over half the world’s population. Did you know that cheese fans maybe out number Swiss Chocolate fans? And that most cuisines in the world would be incomplete without cheese!

The origins of cheese have not been documented. One does not know where or when it came into existence, but the farmers of Mesopotamia, who first domesticated goats and sheep certainly made their cheese from milk. There is a story-around 9000 years ago; an Arabian merchant was riding on a camel through the desert. He had brought with him a bag of skin that was filled with goat milk. When he opened the bag to drink the milk, he found that the milk had converted to cheese! Apparently, the heat and rocking motion of the camel had turned the milk into solid cheese and whey.

Though cheese is primarily made of cow’s milk but in certain parts of Europe and the Middle East, it is also made of goat’s milk. Other sources for making cheese are the milk of yak (China), buffalo (Philippines, India and Italy) and even from donkey and horse’s milk in Afghanistan and Iran.

CATEGORIZING CHEESE:

A cheese can be distinguished by its flavor, smell and texture. Fresh cheese is un-ripened curd eaten shortly after it is made, while soft cheese is briefly ripened and can be easily spread and is also very fattening. Semi-Hard cheese is matured with less moisture and is pretty easy to cut and hard cheese is matured over a long period with less moisture content and may have up to 50% fat.

Fresh and Soft Cheese

Cottage Cheese: A lumpy and bland curd cheese, usually containing cream, has a moist texture. It is available in most countries and is used mainly for making cheesecakes and salads. In India, cottage cheese is very commonly used in most houses and goes by the name of ‘paneer’.

Cream Cheese: This cheese is prepared in the same way that cottage cheese is made but only from full-cream cow’s milk. There are different types of Cream Cheeses- they could be double cream cheese and singles cream cheese. White and smooth, cream cheese is usually used for snacking and spreading.