Cheese

Blue Stilton, a fine traditional English cheese.

Cheese is a solidified dairy product made from milk solids, or curds, which are first separated from the whey. Most cheeses are processed by fermentation with yeast or the addition of enzymes to the curds, and then aged, sometimes for many years. Some are not - notably mozzarella, which is made and best eaten fresh. Salt is also often an ingredient in cheese recipes.

Sources Used to Make Cheese

Most cheese is made from cow's milk, although technically, any large mammal's milk can be used. Some common sources of milk for making cheese other than cows include:

• Goat milk (e.g. Feta)
• Sheep milk (e.g. Roquefort)
• Yak milk.
• Buffalo milk

Cheese History

France is especially renowned as a cheese producer, and their president Charles de Gaulle famously said : "How can a country with 300 different kinds of cheese agree on anything?". However, many French cheeses are made from unpasteurised milk and their transport across international borders is therefore forbidden for health reasons. Certain French cheeses (such as Epoisses) are so smelly that their carriage even on French public transport is also banned.^{[Citation Needed]}

It is most likely that the invention of cheesemaking was a way of preserving excess milk for leaner times.

Varieties

There are literally thousands of varieties of cheese made in the world today, some well known varieties are:

Hard cheeses

• Cheddar (A hard red or white cheese, originally from the English West country, but also now made worldwide in countries including Ireland, Canada, New Zealand, and Scotland)
• Parmesan (Italy|Italian very hard cheese.)
• Romano (Another Italian hard cheese)
• Gouda (Dutch cheese, with a yellow wax rind.)
• Monterey Jack (American.)
• Mozzarella (A very soft hard cheese from Italy, traditionally made with buffalo's milk.)
• Emmenthal (A Swiss cheese, characterised by large holes.)

Blue cheeses

• Blue stilton (English crumbly blue cheese, a non-blue variety also exists.)
• Roquefort (The French king of blue cheeses, made from sheep's milk in a cave.)

Soft cheeses

• Feta (Soft and crumbly Greek goat's milk cheese)
• Brie (a French soft cheese, not particularly smelly.)
• Camembert (a French soft cheese, fairly smelly.)
• Munster (a French soft cheese, dangerously smelly.)
• Cottage cheese (a very runny soft curd cheese).

Synthetic cheeses

• American (a very mild ersatz cheddar, processed for a smooth texture, and often delivered by unusual methods, such as in cans, as strings, or as a spray.

Cheese in Culture

In England, the traditional sport of cheese-rolling remains locally popular. [1]

James McIntyre, a Canadian poet, was fond of writing poems and odes to cheese. This is not because he thought the subject was funny, or ironic. Rather, McIntyre saw cheese production in Canada as a symbol of the strong growth in the Canadian economy. Many people today find his works quite humorous, but McIntyre's "Ode on the Mammoth Cheese" is considered by most poetry scholars not only his best work, but his ultimate achievement.

Cheese is considered by some as a palliative for various internal diseases.