Cheese!

Somewhere I once heard, 'man used to think that the moon was made of cheese, then we actually went there and found out it wasn't - we haven't been back since'. That is quite a dramatic statement, bit it's used to illustrate the power that some people believe that cheese has. Who knew that when you add microscopic organisms to cream or milk, that you would get this wonderfully delicious and amazingly diverse group of food called cheese? I have grown to love discovering cheese. Before I cared, I had no idea that there was such a vast variety of different cheeses out there. Ask most acquaintances of mine what their favorite kind of cheese is, they may be choosing from a list that consists of: Swiss, American, Cheddar, Mozzarella, Colby Jack, Provolone, and perhaps Velveeta. (By my definition Velveeta is NOT cheese, it is an impostor. I'm including it on the list to demonstrate that many people believe that it is cheese.) If someone were to ask me what my favorite cheese is, I would probably ask them if they want to know my favorite hard cheese or soft cheese. I think this happened once, and I got a strange look that said to me they didn't leave room in their minds for soft cheeses. At that point I am happy to familiarize them with the small amount of cheese knowledge that I have. According to cheese.com, there are 670 cheeses that they know of. Most American's eat a very un-diverse diet. This is a trend that is also demonstrated worldwide. Eighty percent of plant based foods that humans now eat come from about 20 species. There was a time in human history when it was estimated that the human diet consisted of over 1,000 different kinds of plants. (These are figures that we teach in Hort 100 & that I have heard through various classes I've taken. Encyclopedia Brittanica lists that there are currently 829 plant species which are important worldwide to the nutritive needs of humans, and that 30 species account for at least 50% of the human diet.) I would venture to say that the same kind of bottleneck effect has happened for non-plant based human foods as well, including cheese.

Needless to say, somewhere along the way I decided that I wanted to try to broaden my personal cheese horizon. I think it began sometime in 2006 when I bought a couple of great books about nutrition and fermented foods. I also happened to have access to raw milk at that time, which I feel is important in making a nutritious cheese. Some of the first cheese I made still remains my favorite - creme fraiche. It is a sour cream that has a very distinct, yet delicate flavor. I have had very different tasting creme friaches as well, some brands are not so good. The first one I tried was excellent, and I decided that it was going to be the one that I would attempt to duplicate myself. It is a fairly simple cheese to make in comparison to many others. The hardest step is making sure that you do a thorough job of sanitizing the jars that you use, typically with a hot water bath. After you've removed the jar and lid from the hot water bath, place them to dry and cool slightly on a sanitized surface. You want the jar to cool just to the point where it doesn't burn you to touch it. If it's hot enough to burn your skin, then it's hot enough to kill enzymes. It's not as big a deal in this process as it is in other cheeses, but it's a good rule of thumb if you're going for nutritive value in raw foods. Once the jar is cool, add the cream to within an inch of the top of the jar. Then quickly add a spoonful of your favorite sour cream (this is the amount for a pint jar, if it's a bigger jar - add more) and put on the lid. The next step is to shake the jar until the sour cream is distributed evenly. Then let it sit out on your counter until it reaches the consistency that you like. This can vary with the temperature, but it usually takes around 24 hours.

The only hard/semi-hard cheese that I have ventured to make so far is 30 Minute Mozzarella from the book Animal, Vegetable, Mineral. It's a great cheese, and it is pretty quick to make. It tasted good, even though I forgot to put in the salt. Besides the salt, there are a lot of directions that you can take with this simple recipe, such as the addition of your favorite herbs or sundried tomatoes. Yum! It is really amazing to be stirring a pot of milk and suddenly realize that cheese is forming, and through experience you gain more than just the knowledge of how cheese is actually made. You don't just know any longer, but you realize because you did it yourself.