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For other uses of the term "Cheese", see Cheese (disambiguation).

Cheese is a food made from the curdled milk of cows, goats, sheep, buffalo or other mammals. The milk is curdled using some combination of rennet (or rennet substitutes) and acidification. Bacteria acidify the milk and play a role in defining the texture and flavor of most cheeses. Some cheeses also feature molds, either on the outer rind or throughout.

There are hundreds of types of cheese produced all over the world. Different styles and flavors of cheese are the result of using different species of bacteria and molds, different levels of milk fat, variations in length of aging, differing processing treatments (cheddaring, pulling, brining, mold wash) and different breeds of cows, sheep, or other mammals. Other factors include animal diet and the addition of flavoring agents such as herbs, spices, or wood smoke. Whether or not the milk is pasteurized may also affect the flavor.

For a few cheeses, the milk is curdled by adding acids such as vinegar or lemon juice. Most cheeses, however, are acidified to a lesser degree by bacteria, which turn milk sugars into lactic acid, followed by the addition of rennet to complete the curdling. Rennet is an enzyme traditionally obtained from the stomach lining of young cattle, but now also laboratory produced. It acts by breaking down the major milk protein casein into small fragments, leading to coagulation. Substitute "vegetable rennets" have been extracted from various species of the Cynara thistle family.

Cheeses are eaten raw or cooked, alone or with other ingredients. As they are heated, most cheeses melt and brown. Some cheeses, like raclette, melt smoothly; many others can be coaxed into doing so in the presence of acids or starch. Fondue, with wine providing the acidity, is a good example of a smoothly-melted cheese dish. Other cheeses turn elastic and stringy when they melt, a quality that can be enjoyed in dishes like pizza and Welsh rabbit. Some cheeses melt unevenly, their fats separating as they heat, while a few acid-curdled cheeses, including halloumi, paneer and ricotta, do not melt at all and can become firmer when cooked.

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Types of cheese

No one categorization scheme can capture all the diversity of the world's cheeses. These are some commonly used classifications.

Fresh

For these simplest cheeses, milk is curdled and drained, with little other processing. Examples include Cottage cheese, Romanian Caş, Neufchâtel (the model for American-style cream cheese), and fresh goat's milk chèvre. Such cheeses are soft and spreadable, with a mild taste. Fresh cheeses without additional preservatives can spoil in a matter of days.

Whey cheeses are fresh cheeses made from the whey discarded while producing other cheeses. Ricotta, Romanian Urda and Norwegian Geitost are examples.

Traditional Mozzarella also falls into the fresh cheese category. Fresh curds are stretched and kneaded in hot water to form a ball of Mozzarella, which in southern Italy is usually eaten within a few hours of being made. Other firm fresh cheeses include paneer and queso fresco.

Distinctively aged

Soft-ripened cheeses such as Brie and Camembert are made by allowing white Penicillium candida or P. camemberti mold to grow on the outside of a soft cheese for a few days or weeks. The mold forms a white crust and contributes to the smooth, runny, or gooey textures and more intense flavors of these aged cheeses. Goats' milk cheeses are often treated in a similar manner, sometimes with white molds and sometimes with blue.

Blue-mold cheeses like Roquefort, Gorgonzola, and Stilton are produced by inoculating loosely pressed curds with Penicillium roqueforti or Penicillium glaucum molds. The mold grows within the cheese as it ages. These cheeses have distinct blue veins and, often, assertive flavors. Their texture can be soft or firm.

Washed-rind cheeses are periodically bathed in a saltwater brine as they age, making their surfaces amenable to a class of bacteria (the reddish-orange "smear bacteria") which impart pungent odors and distinctive flavors. Washed-rind cheeses can be soft (Limburger), semi-hard (Munster), or hard (Appenzeller).

Other categories

Categorizing cheeses by firmness is a common but inexact practice. The lines between "soft", "semi-soft", "semi-hard", and "hard" are arbitrary, and many types of cheese are made in softer or firmer variations. Harder cheeses have a lower moisture content than softer cheeses. They are generally packed into molds under more pressure and aged for a longer time.

The familiar cheddar is one of a family of semi-hard or hard cheeses (including Cheshire and Gloucester) whose curd is cut, gently heated, piled, and stirred before being pressed into forms. Colby and Monterey Jack are similar but milder cheeses; their curd is rinsed before it is pressed, washing away some acidity and calcium. A similar curd-washing takes place when making the Dutch cheeses Edam and Gouda.

Swiss-style cheeses like Emmental and Gruyère are generally quite firm. The same bacteria that give Emmental its holes contribute to their aromatic and sharp flavors. The hardest cheeses — "grating cheeses" such as Parmesan, Pecorino, and Romano — are quite firmly packed into large forms and aged for months or years.

Processed cheese is made from traditional cheese and emulsifiers, often with the addition of milk, more salt, preservatives, and food coloring. It is inexpensive, consistent, and melts smoothly. This is the most-consumed category of cheese in the United States. The most familiar processed cheese may be pre-sliced mild yellow American Cheese or Velveeta. Many other varieties exist, including Easy Cheese, a Kraft Foods brand sold in a spray can.

Health and nutrition

In general, cheese supplies a great deal of calcium, protein, and phosphorus. A 30 gram (one ounce) serving of cheddar cheese contains about seven grams of protein and 200 milligrams of calcium. Nutritionally, cheese is essentially concentrated milk: it takes about 200 grams (seven ounces) of milk to provide that much protein, and 150 grams to equal the calcium.

Cheese shares milk's nutritional disadvantages as well. The Center for Science in the Public Interest condemns cheese as America's number one source of saturated fat, adding that the average American ate 30 pounds (13.6 kg) of cheese in the year 2000, up from 11 pounds (5 kg) in 1970. Their recommendation is to limit full-fat cheese consumption to two ounces (60 grams) a week. Whether cheese's highly saturated fat actually leads to an increased risk of heart disease is called into question when considering France and Greece, which lead the world in cheese eating (more than 14 ounces (400 grams) a week per person, or over 45 pounds (20 kg) a year) yet have relatively low rates of heart disease.

A number of food safety agencies around the world have warned of the risks of raw-milk cheeses. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration states that soft raw-milk cheeses can cause "serious infectious diseases including listeriosis, brucellosis, salmonellosis and tuberculosis". It is U.S. law since 1944 that all raw-milk cheeses (including imports since 1951) must be aged at least 60 days. Australia has a wide ban on raw-milk cheeses as well, though in recent years exceptions have been made for Swiss Gruyère, Emmental and Sbrinz, and for French Roquefort. Some say these worries are overblown, pointing out that pasteurization of the milk used to make cheese does not ensure its safety in any case. This is supported by statistics showing that in Europe (where young raw-milk cheeses are still legal in some countries), most cheese-related food poisoning incidents were traced to pasteurized cheeses. Pregnant women may face an additional risk from cheese; the U.S. Centers for Disease Control has warned pregnant women against eating soft-ripened cheeses and blue-veined cheeses, due to the listeria risk to the unborn baby.

Some studies claim to show that cheeses including Cheddar, Mozzarella, Swiss and American can help to prevent tooth decay. Several mechanisms for this protection have been proposed:

• The calcium, protein, and phosphorus in cheese may act to protect tooth enamel.
• Cheese increases saliva flow, washing away acids and sugars.
• Cheese may have an antibacterial effect in the mouth.

Cheese is often avoided by those who are lactose intolerant, but ripened cheeses like Cheddar contain only about 5% of the lactose found in whole milk, and aged cheeses contain almost none. Some people suffer reactions to amines found in cheese, particularly histamine and tyramine. Some aged cheeses contain significant concentrations of these amines, which can trigger symptoms mimicking an allergic reaction: headaches, rashes, and blood pressure elevations.

Making cheese

Curdling

The only strictly required step in making any sort of cheese is separating the milk into solid curds and liquid whey. Usually this is done by acidifying the milk and adding rennet. The acidification is accomplished directly by the addition of an acid like vinegar in a few cases (paneer, queso fresco), but usually starter bacteria are employed instead. These starter bacteria convert milk sugars into lactic acid. The same bacteria (and the enzymes they produce) also play a large role in the eventual flavor of aged cheeses. Most cheeses are made with starter bacteria from the Lactococci, Lactobacilli, or Streptococci families. Swiss starter cultures also include Propionibacter shermani, which produces carbon dioxide gas bubbles during aging, giving Swiss cheese or Emmental its holes.

Some fresh cheeses are curdled only by acidity, but most cheeses also use rennet. Rennet sets the cheese into a strong and rubbery gel compared to the fragile curds produced by acidic coagulation alone. It also allows curdling at a lower acidity—important because flavor-making bacteria are inhibited in high-acidity environments. In general, softer, smaller, fresher cheeses are curdled with a greater proportion of acid to rennet than harder, larger, longer-aged varieties.

Curd processing

At this point, the cheese has set into a very moist gel. Some soft cheeses are now essentially complete: they are drained, salted, and packaged. For most of the rest, the curd is cut into small cubes. This allows water to drain from the individual pieces of curd.

Some hard cheeses are then heated to temperatures in the range of 35°C–55°C (100°F–130°F). This forces more whey from the cut curd. It also changes the taste of the finished cheese, affecting both the bacterial culture and the milk chemistry. Cheeses that are heated to the higher temperatures are usually made with thermophilic starter bacteria which survive this step—either lactobacilli or streptococci.

Salt has a number of roles in cheese besides adding a salty flavor. It preserves cheese from spoiling, draws moisture from the curd, and firms up a cheese’s texture in an interaction with its proteins. Some cheeses are salted from the outside with dry salt or brine washes. Most cheeses have the salt mixed directly into the curds.

A number of other techniques can be employed to influence the cheese's final texture and flavor. Some examples:

• Stretching: (Mozzarella, Provolone) The curd is stretched and kneaded in hot water, developing a stringy, fibrous body.
• Cheddaring: (Cheddar, other English cheeses) The cut curd is repeatedly piled up, pushing more moisture away. The curd is also mixed (or milled) for a long period of time, taking the sharp edges off the cut curd pieces and influencing the final product's texture.
• Washing: (Edam, Gouda, Colby) The curd is washed in warm water, lowering its acidity and making for a milder-tasting cheese.

Most cheeses achieve their final shape when the curds are pressed into a mold or form. The harder the cheese, the more pressure is applied. The pressure drives out moisture — the molds are designed to allow water to escape — and unifies the curds into a single solid body.

Aging

A newborn cheese is usually salty yet bland in flavor and, for harder varieties, rubbery in texture. These qualities are sometimes enjoyed—cheese curds are eaten on their own—but usually cheeses are left to rest under carefully controlled conditions. This aging period (also called ripening, or, from the French, affinage) can last from a few days to several years. As a cheese ages, microbes and enzymes transform its texture and intensify its flavor. This transformation is largely a result of the breakdown of casein proteins and milkfat into a complex mix of amino acids, amines, and fatty acids.

Some cheeses have additional bacteria or molds intentionally introduced to them before or during aging. In traditional cheesemaking, these microbes might be already present in the air of the aging room; they are simply allowed to settle and grow on the stored cheeses. More often today, prepared cultures are used, giving more consistent results and putting fewer constraints on the environment where the cheese ages.

For the blue cheeses (Roquefort, Stilton, Gorgonzola), Penicillium mold is introduced to the curd before molding. During aging, the blue molds (P. roqueforti or P. glaucum ) grow in the small fissures in the cheese, imparting a sharp flavor and aroma. The same molds are also grown on the surface of some aged goat cheeses. The soft cheeses Brie and Camembert, among others, get a surface growth of other Penicillium species, white-colored P. candidum or P. camemberti. The surface mold contributes to the interior texture and flavor of these small cheeses.

Some cheeses are periodically washed in a saltwater brine during their ripening. Not only does the brine carry flavors into the cheese (it might be seasoned with spices or wine), but the salty environment may nurture the growth of the Brevibacterium linens bacteria, which can impart a very pronounced odor (Limburger) and interesting flavor. The same bacteria can also have some impact on cheeses that are simply ripened in humid conditions, like Camembert. Large populations of these "smear bacteria" show up as a sticky orange-red layer on some brine-washed cheeses.

Cheese in language

Throughout the history of the English language, the word cheese has been chese (in Middle English) and cīese or cēse (in Old English). Similar words are shared by other West Germanic languages — Frisian tsiis, Dutch kaas, German Käse, Old High German chāsi — all of which probably come from the reconstructed West-Germanic root *kasjus, which in turn is an early borrowing from Latin. The Latin word caseus — from which are derived the Spanish queso, Portuguese queijo, Romanian caş and Italian cacio — and the Celtic root which gives the Irish cáis and the Welsh caws are also related. This whole group of words is probably derived from the proto-Indo-European root *kwat-, which means "to ferment, become sour".

When the Romans began to make hard cheeses for their legionaries' supplies, a new word started to be used: formaticum, from caseus formatus, or "molded cheese". It is from this word that we get the French fromage, Italian formaggio, Breton fourmaj and Provençal furmo. Cheese itself is occasionally employed in a sense that means "molded" or "formed". Head cheese uses the word in this sense.

In modern English slang, something "cheesy" is kitsch, cheap, inauthentic, or of poor quality. One can also be "cheesed off"— unhappy or annoyed. Such negative connotations might derive from a ripe cheese's sometimes-unpleasant odor. Almost certainly the odor explains the use of "cutting the cheese" as a euphemism for flatulence. A more upbeat slang use is seen in "the big cheese", an expression referring to the most important person in a group, the "big shot" or "head honcho". This use of the word probably derived not from the word cheese, but from the Persian or Hindi word chiz, meaning a thing.

A more whimsical bit of American and Canadian slang refers to school buses as "cheese wagons", a reference to school bus yellow. People getting their photo taken are often encouraged to "say cheese!", as the word "cheese" contains the phoneme /i/, a long vowel which requires the lips to be stretched in the appearance of a smile. People from Wisconsin and the Netherlands, both centers of cheese production, have been called cheeseheads. This nickname has been embraced by Wisconsin sports fans — especially fans of the Green Bay Packers or Wisconsin Badgers — who are now seen in the stands sporting plastic or foam hats in the shape of giant cheese wedges.

Notes

1. Nutritional data from CNN Interactive. Retrieved October 20, 2004.
2. Center for Science in the Public Interest (2001). Don't Say Cheese. Retrieved October 15, 2005.
3. McGee, p 67. McGee supports both this contention and that more food poisonings in Europe are caused by pasteurized cheeses than raw-milk.
4. FDA Warns About Soft Cheese Health Risk. Retrieved October 15, 2005.
5. Chris Mercer (2005). Australia lifts Roquefort cheese safety ban. Retrieved October 22, 2005.
6. Janet Fletcher. The Myths About Raw-Milk Cheese. Retrieved October 15, 2005.
7. Listeria and pregnancy, from the American Pregnancy Association. Retrieved 28 February 2006.
8. National Dairy Council. Specific Health Benefits of Cheese. Retrieved October 15, 2005.
9. Lactose Intolerance FAQs from the American Dairy Association. Retrieved October 15, 2005.
10. Michael Quinion (2000). World Wide Words: Big Cheese. Retrieved October 15, 2005.
11. Straight Dope Staff Report (2005). Why do photographers ask you to say "cheese"?. Retrieved October 15, 2005.

References

• Jenkins, Steven (1996). Cheese Primer. Workman Publishing Company. ISBN 0-894-80762-5.
• McGee, Harold (2004). On Food and Cooking (Revised Edition). Scribner. ISBN 0-684-80001-2. pp 51-63, "Cheese"
• James Mellgren (2003). 2003 Specialty Cheese Manual, Part II: Knowing the Family of Cheese. Retrieved October 12, 2005.

External links

• Production of cheese — From Food-info.net.
• Complete Recipes: Cheese
• University of Guelph Food Science Cheese Site
• Cheese Recipes - eLook - Contains a listing of over 1,100 recipes.
• Cheese Making Illustrated — The science behind homemade cheese.
• The Complete Book of Cheese at Project Gutenberg
• Cheese.com — includes an extensive database of different types of cheese.

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