Long-term ripening of cheese allows you to solve two issues that farmers face at once - preserving milk for a long time and obtaining a tasty product. Although cheese can be consumed immediately after its production, with prolonged aging its taste is enhanced many times over. In addition, ripening for 60 days or longer significantly reduces the content of potentially harmful microorganisms, which is important, especially if unpasteurized milk is used in the production of cheese.
Aging cheese for ripening can last from several days to three or more years. During the ripening process, several types of biochemical transformations occur that change the physical properties, taste and aroma of cheese:
The humidity of the room in which the cheese is matured is of primary importance in the process of cheese ripening. Insufficient humidity can cause the rind to crack and the cheese to dry out. Excessive will lead to the formation of mold and softening of the crust. Normal humidity for cheese ripening is from 80 to 90%.
The main protective element of cheese is the rind: it protects the internal structure from harmful microbes and prevents the product from drying out. The crust begins to form when the cheese is pressed - the outer layer becomes drier and thickens. Placing cheese in brine dehydrates the rind, which makes it stronger, and aging may vary in the future.
Creating a clean rind from natural products is a rather difficult process, since the cheese can easily be exposed to microbes from the external environment. Because of this, this method is used extremely rarely.
Creating a rind using salt or brine occurs by regularly washing the cheese and then treating it with salt. It is important to keep the air humidity lower, since an increased amount of moisture can cause mold to form. Several weeks after treatment, the crust is often covered olive oil.
Creating a rind coated with olive oil during the curing process prevents excessive drying out, and to eliminate the risk of molding, the rind should be dried. To do this, the cheese is pressed and air dried. The oil layer makes the crust more flexible and prevents it from cracking. When small cheeses are coated with butter, the rind becomes thicker and the cheese is able to withstand almost any external influence. The cheese can be aged for a long time, only periodically renewing the layer of oil. Application is carried out using a cloth or napkin soaked in oil, or directly onto the cheese. At the beginning of aging, the layer needs to be updated every week, and then, if the aging is planned for a long time, every month. In between treatments, you should also apply salt to the crust to strengthen and dry it.
The oil for processing cheese can be chosen based on personal taste preferences; Any type that is edible is suitable. It is necessary that the substance is resistant to oxidation and spoilage over a long period of time, and also does not have its own odor that could overpower the aroma of the finished cheese. You can use both animal and vegetable fats. Among animal oils, purified cow oil is best, and among vegetable oils, rapeseed and olive oils are best.
They can be of either natural or artificial origin. Natural products include wax and mixtures with wax, while artificial products include various chemical compounds used to cover the cheese wheel. To coat cheese with wax, simply dip it on all sides in melted wax. Chemical compositions, usually latex and polymer, are becoming increasingly widespread today due to their unique properties. Many of them prevent the development of molds on cheese and have a structure that allows carbon dioxide to pass through.
Quite a few cheese makers prefer vacuum packaging for their products, due to the fact that they can use inexpensive and affordable household vacuum sealers today. However, you need to remember the following points:
The processes listed above are possible due to the fact that the cheese contains:
I will not give diagrams of biochemical reactions or write equations here. I think it’s already clear that aging cheese is no less, if not a more important part of its production than everything that precedes this aging. Don't assume that you've already made the cheese until it's finished ripening.
The humidity of the environment in which the cheese matures is of great importance. Insufficient humidity will lead to drying and cracking of the crust and a decrease in humidity in the very cheese dough below the level necessary for the activity of beneficial bacteria and enzymes. Also, the lack of moisture will not allow the secondary microflora of mold and washed (slug) cheeses to develop normally. Excessive humidity can lead to the formation of unnecessary mold, softening of the cheese rind and spoilage of the cheese.
Maturing of cheese. General concepts. The second part is more confusing.
Microbiological changes during cheese ripening include the continued activity of starter lactic acid bacteria in the early stages of aging. This activity continues until the salt concentration in the aqueous phase of the cheese reaches the limiting level for the life of these bacteria. With dry salting, the maximum salt concentration for starter bacteria in the aqueous phase is reached faster than with wet salting. After this, non-starter lactic acid bacteria, sometimes including heterofermentative lactobacilli, begin to develop in most cheeses. They may be present in milk and survive pasteurization or be introduced from the environment during cheese making. This means that even if only non-gas-producing bacteria were used as starter microorganisms, gas formation may occur during aging. Non-starter lactic acid bacteria can also affect the taste of cheeses. The final content of non-starter bacteria depends on their initial content in the milk, the cooling rate of the formed cheese and the aging temperature.
Some cheeses ripen with the participation of secondary microflora. The conversion of lactates into propionates, acetates, carbon dioxide and water by the bacteria Propionibacterium freudenreichii is a necessary condition for the formation of gas eyes and flavor nuances characteristic of Swiss-type cheeses. Penicillium candidum and P. roqueforti determine the ripening of Camembert and blue cheeses. When ripening slime cheeses, the acidity of the cheese surface first decreases (pH increases) due to the action of, for example, Geotrichum candidum. This change in acidity allows the development of a complex microflora, including Corynebacterium, Brevibacterium and other microorganisms that give cheeses their characteristic color, aroma and taste.
Already in the process of making cheese, conditions are set that will determine which microorganisms will predominantly develop during ripening. The degree of drying of the cheese grain, the rate of formation and the amount of acid influence the main four parameters that determine the properties of the cheese: salt content in the water phase of the cheese, moisture content, fat content in dry matter and pH. Salt content in the aqueous phase and pH are the two most significant factors for the development of microorganisms. Additionally, the microbiological composition of cheese is influenced by the presence of organic acids and temperature during ripening.
Water is an indispensable condition for the development of all microorganisms, and controlling the amount of water suitable for their growth is an effective way to control the microbiological environment of cheese. Changing the amount of water usable by microorganisms is achieved by removing excess water and adding salt. The activity of water is a more important factor than its quantity. What is water activity (Aw) i. This term is key to understanding the interaction between water and microorganisms.
The value of Aw directly depends on the salt concentration. This relationship is almost linear, with a correlation coefficient of 0.997. Water activity is calculated using the formula Aw = -0.0007x + 1.0042, where x is the salt concentration in the cheese (g/kg), which corresponds to Aw values from 0.99 to 0.95. The decrease in water activity during cheese ripening is caused, firstly, by the loss of moisture during its evaporation from the surface, if the cheeses are not packaged in wax or film or are kept in a room with controlled humidity. And, secondly, by hydrolysis of proteins to peptides and amino acids. Each peptide bond requires one molecule of water to hydrolyze.
Bacteria are the most demanding on the Aw value, followed by yeast and the least sensitive to a decrease in water activity of mold. At the initial stages of cheese production, when Aw is close to 0.99, conditions are favorable for the growth and activity of most microorganisms present in the cheese. After whey draining, salting and during the ripening process, when Aw decreases to a level of about 0.92, the activity of starter lactic acid bacteria practically ceases, however, many secondary microorganisms, including non-starter lactic acid bacteria, continue to develop.
The optimal pH for the development of most bacteria is close to neutral (pH=7). At pH=5 and below, their growth slows down significantly. As a result of biochemical processes, organic acids accumulate in cheese, the presence of which leads to a decrease in pH to the level of 4.5 - 5.3 and the impossibility of survival of acidity-sensitive microorganisms. The main organic acids that are formed in cheese are lactic, acetic and propionic. In this case, propionic acid is the most powerful inhibitor of the growth of microorganisms, followed by acetic acid and then lactic acid. But a much larger amount of lactic acid, compared to other acids, makes lactic acid the main substance affecting microorganisms. The exception is Swiss cheese, in which the concentration of propionic acid can be greater than lactic acid.
Temperature during ripening is one of the important parameters, by changing which the cheesemaker can control the microbiological composition of cheeses. The cheese aging temperature is a compromise between creating comfortable conditions for the biochemical reactions of ripening and growth of secondary microflora and inhibiting the development of potential pathogens and bacteria that lead to spoilage of cheeses. Most cheeses are aged at temperatures of 6 – 15C. Higher temperatures speed up ripening, but distort the physical and flavor properties of the cheese.
Cheese spoilage organisms or pathogens such as coliforms, Staphylococcus aureus, Listeria monocytogenes and Salmonella Enterica may be present in milk or introduced into the product during the manufacturing process. Typically, cheese is not a comfortable environment for the survival and growth of such microorganisms. But in some types of cheese their content can reach levels that can cause product spoilage or even human illness. Properly made cheese is safe and stores well, improving over time. But if you pay insufficient attention to the cleanliness of production at all stages, unpleasant consequences will not be long in coming.
The cheese storage facility, where the cheese matures, is the holy of holies of the cheese factory. There are chambers here - refrigerated and warm. They contain heads, cylinders, and bars of cheese neatly laid out on shelves. There are thermometers and psychrometers on the racks, the air temperature is maintained with an accuracy of 1-2? C, humidity up to 2-3%.
In the chambers of the cheese storage facility, under the influence of rennet and microflora enzymes, the process of cheese ripening, which began in the cheese bath, continues and is almost completed.
The nature of ripening is approximately the same, but for each type of cheese it has its own characteristics, which determine, in particular, the duration of this process. Hard rennet cheeses, for example Swiss, Sovetsky, Kostroma, etc., ripen up to 180 days. The reason, of course, is not the different volume and weight of these types of cheese, but the same microorganisms.
For several months, while the cheese is on the shelves, they continue to take care of it. The cheese is periodically turned over so that its shape is not damaged, the crust is better, and the salt is evenly distributed; wash it when they find mold on it; sometimes they are transferred to another compartment of the storage facility, where the temperature conditions are different.
Cheese ripening is a process during which the cheese acquires a yellowish color, a specific taste characteristic of each type, a more or less delicate consistency and a so-called pattern - round, oval or other shaped eyes, the cheese rind becomes dense and at the same time elastic. For example, in Swiss cheese the volume of voids can reach up to 20% of the total volume. And some cheeses are coated with a paraffin mixture, which means that the end of its ripening at the factory is approaching.
The cheese is checked with a special hammer; the cheese should produce a soft, clean, distinct and uniform sound in all places. But any methods for determining the quality of cheese cannot be replaced by an organolyptic test. For this purpose, factories have a special device - a probe (nickel-plated or stainless steel tube). It is inserted into the head of the cheese, turned and a cylinder of aromatic-smelling cheese is taken out. This sample is used to evaluate the pattern, color, consistency, taste and smell of the product.
The cheese is ready. It is packed in boxes and sent to the base or to a refrigerator, where it is stored at a temperature of 2-6? C and an air humidity of 85-87%. From here it goes to stores.
Depending on organoleptic characteristics, hard cheeses are divided into premium and first grade. The organoleptic method determines the quality of cheeses using a 100-point system. All premium cheeses must have an overall score of 87-100 points. An important indicator is taste and smell - a total score of at least 37 points. The overall score for first grade cheese is 75-86 points, including taste and smell of at least 34 points. Premium cheeses must have the correct shape; the crust is thin, smooth, clean and elastic, without wrinkles. Paraffin cheeses have an intact layer of paraffin. The taste and smell must be pure, characteristic of this species, without foreign tastes and odors. In the first grade, a mild fodder and sour taste is allowed. The consistency of the dough should be elastic and uniform throughout the entire mass. In the first grade, crumbly, loose, hard, belty (with good taste and smell). The color of the dough is from white to slightly yellow, uniform throughout the dough. In the first grade, uneven color is allowed.
Cheeses with defects are not allowed for sale.
DEFECTS OF CHEESE. Cheese defects can arise as a result of violations of production technology, low quality milk, storage conditions of finished products and violations of transportation conditions. The defects of cheeses include: defects of taste and smell; consistency, pattern and color; appearance(crusts and molds). When determining the quality of cheeses using the organoleptic method, taste and smell are important.
DEFECTS OF TASTE AND SMELL. Unexpressed cheese taste. The reasons for this may be aging the cheese in storage with insufficient humidity, ripening at low temperatures, or the young age of the cheese. Cheeses that have been frozen usually have an empty taste. Fodder taste - as a result of feeding animals with silage and when eating wormwood, wild onions, etc. Sour taste - appears when using milk with high acidity, as well as with increased moisture content in cheese (45% and above) and as a result of other reasons that stimulate lactic acid fermentation. The curdled taste is manifested by a pronounced acidic taste and crumbliness. Tasteless cheese - obtained as a result of insignificant formation of soluble products during the ripening process. A greasy taste is formed during the ripening of cheese during the development of oxidative processes. Bitter taste - the cheese was ripened at low temperatures and can be transmitted from feed. A rancid, moldy taste usually appears in soft cheeses as a result of the accumulation of fat breakdown products. A putrid, rotten smell is a defect of bacterial origin. Ammonia taste and smell develops in cheese with a weak and easily slimy rind at high ripening temperatures and high relative humidity. A strong ammonia smell is considered a defect. A taste and smell atypical for this type of cheese is formed as a result of a violation of the technological process.
DEFECTS IN CONSISTENCY OF PATTERN AND COLOR. The hard, belty consistency is the result of strong crushing of the grain, very high heating temperatures, and strong swelling of the proteins. Blind cheese is cheese without eyes or with a small or sparse pattern. This defect is formed as a result of insufficient gas formation under unfavorable conditions for the development of bacteria. A large amount of salt, excessive acidity of fresh cheese and low temperature basements Cheese without a pattern is obtained by processing pasteurized milk, into which no bacterial starter has been added. A rare and small pattern is formed as a result of processing milk with high acidity and ripening cheese at a lower temperature than expected. A torn pattern is formed as a result of strong gas formation or rupture of the partitions between closely spaced large eyes. The crumbly consistency is formed as a result of the increased acidity of the cheese mass. Smeared dough is a consequence of careless processing of grain (the grain is heterogeneous and small). Uneven color - uneven distribution of salt or color in the cheese dough.
DEFECTS IN APPEARANCE (shapes and crusts). A defect in the shape of the cheese occurs as a result of deformation. This may be due to infrequent turning over. delicate cheeses(one-sided settlement), storing cheese on uneven shelves (dentation); storage of high-humidity varieties in warm cheese storage facilities (blurred form). Deformed cheeses are not allowed for sale. A weak, slimy, white rind is formed in cheeses with a high content of lactic acid. Deformed cheeses are not allowed for sale.
CRACKS IN THE CUSTOM. The reason is that the surface layer dries out too quickly in dry cheese storage facilities; strong gas formation.
The quality of cheeses also largely depends on the raw materials used - milk, which must have a density of at least 1.027 g/cm 3, acidity - 16-18 o T, calcium content - 125 mg, coagulate well under the influence of rennet, form a dense curd with good separation whey, be a favorable environment for the development of lactic bacteria.
The quality of cheese depends on its salting. Table salt Gives the cheese a certain taste, regulates microbiological and biochemical processes during its ripening, promotes the formation of a product crust, affects consistency, pattern and yield. For salting, brine is used with a salt concentration of 13-18% for brine and soft cheeses and 22-24% for hard cheeses. Cheeses are salted at a temperature of 8-10 °C for several days.
Cheeses with foreign impurities in the dough, out of shape, affected by subcrustal mold and others are not allowed.
Coliform bacteria are not allowed.
Cheese, like no other animal product, can best serve as an ambassador for the territory in which it is produced. Leaving aside cases where milk or semi-finished cheese products are imported from outside, cheese concentrates not only the physical matter created in a certain territory, but also the history and traditions of the people living on it.
Cheese is a product whose production is interesting to see not on the scale of industrial standard production, but in a small family enterprise, where cheese forms with purely individual taste characteristics are born, thanks to the reaction of productive animals to everyday environmental changes, coupled with possible imperfections of traditional production.
Having recently met one such manufacturer and heard that he ages his cheeses in a grotto, I immediately approached with the question: “Is it possible to be curious about your cheeses in a grotto?”
When I was going on an excursion to the cheese grotto, I didn’t even suspect that I would see with my own eyes all those manifestations that I just wrote about above, and which my readers probably already considered pure pathos.
In our minds, the grotto is seen as something similar to a natural cave. This is pretty much how I imagined the grotto in which cheeses are aged. I probably saw these on TV.
Arriving in the small southern Italian town of San Rufo, located in the mountains at an altitude of almost 700 meters, I never expected that instead of a mountain cave they would take me inside an ancient house. It's good that I accidentally took a photo of a similar abandoned house nearby, the style of which I liked.
Later I learned that the cellars of ancient houses of the local aristocracy are excellent for aging cheeses. The walls of these houses sometimes reach a meter thickness, so a constant cool and humid atmosphere is maintained in the basements, regardless of the time of year. It turned out that such use of basements is quite widespread in Southern Italy.
An artificial underground room, in our understanding a cellar or basement, is considered from a technical point of view as a cave, and translated into Italian - la grotta. Therefore, there was no deception on the part of the cheese manufacturer!
It's time to introduce the hero of my report. Signor Luigi Pagano Class of 1967.
His family owns small farms with cattle, sheep, goats and pigs. Farm products are processed into cheeses and meat products, which are sold in a store also owned by the family. In addition to family members, the production employs 10 workers.
I took this photo of Signor Luigi as we entered the above-ground part of the cheese aging room. This room is called la cantina, translated into Russian again as “basement”. Phew! In my opinion, I have already quite confused my readers with the discrepancy between Italian terms and our understanding of them.
Let's put aside the emerging disputes and misunderstandings, and turn to the issues of ripening and aging of cheeses, specifically to the conditions necessary for this. Let's start dancing from this wall!
And the wall, as you remember, is almost a meter thick, so it can easily maintain the necessary atmosphere.
What conditions should a cheese ripening manufacturer have? Signor Luigi, in his passionate story about them, found grateful listeners in us.
Light, temperature and humidity are the three fundamental elements necessary for the correct ripening of cheeses.
No one has any questions about temperature and humidity, but what about the light?! Light is energy and, like temperature, when accumulated, it can provoke premature biochemical changes in the tissues of cheese.
Therefore, this completely darkened above-ground room, which was residential 50 years ago, now looks like a storage room. The Italians call the pantry, the basement and the semi-basement a cantina. Think wine cantinas!
Signor Luigi noticed that a dark and cool room does not immediately become a place for ripening cheeses. Several years must pass before the atmosphere of the cantina is saturated with suitable microflora, which has a positive effect on the transformation of the cheese form. That is why the ancient premises, which have already become part of the environment, are so valuable.
Cantina equipment, i.e. The shelves on which the cheese molds are laid out are made of wood that has not undergone any chemical treatment.
The cheeses arrive at the cantina after salting.
After the cheese curd is separated from the whey, the liquid content in it begins to be lost due to its evaporation. The loss of liquid, depending on the aging time of the cheeses, can reach up to 60%. Due to this, the cheese mold loses weight and its tissues become denser.
So that this process takes place slowly, because... The liquid plays an important role for the biochemical processes occurring inside the cheese mold; the environment in which the cheese is located must be moist. Therefore, in the cantina it is very important to maintain constant high humidity (up to 85%) at a temperature of 12-14 C
Fluid loss also occurs due to osmosis, which is provoked by surface tissues richer in salt. Fresh molds “sweat” liquid, which must be periodically washed off from the surface of the molds. First they do this every other day, then every two, etc. The older the cheese becomes, the less frequently it is washed with brine.
To ensure that the moisture is evenly distributed over the surface of the cheese molds, they are periodically turned over.
An important stage in the ripening of cheeses is the formation of a crust, which serves as a natural protection against excessive dehydration and the penetration of unwanted microflora. The crust is formed by a compacting surface into which salt has actively penetrated.
Compare two forms of Pecorino 15 days apart. The forming crust is clearly visible.
As it ripens, the crust changes color from milky white to a more or less intense yellow-straw shade.
Signor Luigi showed a uniform that had been attacked by cheese mites. Ticks and cheese flies are the worst enemies of the cheesemaker, the fight against which requires extreme caution in the use of chemicals.
The process of cheese ripening involves biochemical changes in fats and proteins, as well as fermentation of remaining sugars. Thanks to these transformations, the cheese acquires its characteristic consistency, taste and aroma.
The results of such changes are most pronounced when the cheese is made from raw milk.
During the ripening period, gas may form in the cheese molds, which causes the formation of those same cheese holes of different sizes. Depending on the type of cheese, they can be considered an advantage or a defect.
Cheeses produced by Signor Luigi from raw sheep or goat milk, should have a dense mass with slightly pronounced perforation. A properly structured shape produces a clear sound when tapped.
A cheese mold, inside of which excessive gas formation has occurred, leads to swelling of the mold, and the tissue inside it breaks. The taste of such cheese tends to be overly piquant with a noticeable bitterness. As Signor Luigi said: “Some people like it even hotter!”)))
The cause of this bloating is anaerobic bacteria that enter the milk through feed or manure. Silage feed is especially harmful in this regard. This is why it is forbidden to feed silage to cows whose milk is used to produce expensive cheeses that require long aging.
For interest, compare the domed shape of the cheese in the bottom photo with the shape in the previous photo.
This summer, too hot, created too harsh conditions for ripening, changing the temperature and humidity inside the cantina. The use of conditioned air flows caused fractures in those forms whose surface had some kind of defects.
Ventilation in the room where cheeses are ripened is one of the most difficult tasks for a manufacturer.
In my opinion, I have covered all the basic conditions that are required for ripening cheeses. The most interesting detail remains, for which I came to the cheese maker, i.e. cheese grotto.
But before touching it, you need to become more familiar with the cheeses that Signor Luigi produces.
Signor Luigi's greatest love is cheeses made from raw milk. He correctly believes that cheeses made from raw milk that has not undergone pasteurization, during ripening, most fully reveal their flavor bouquet. This feature is associated with the biochemical structure of milk fat. Especially when it comes to cheeses made from sheep or goat milk.
The most valuable cheeses are those obtained from the milk of sheep and goats during spring pastures. The flavor range of such aged cheeses has very distinct floral and fruity notes. To distinguish cheeses from spring pastures, special molds are used for them.
Compare the shape in the photo below with those in the photo above. The photo shows pecorino cheese, i.e. made from sheep's milk. Cheese made from goat's milk is called caprino.
During the most favorable period, large forms are made from a mixture of sheep and goat milk, which are aged for over a year or more.
When for some reason goat's milk deteriorates in quality, it is used to produce cachoricotta cheese, which is used in local cuisine in grated form. Therefore, the cheese is produced in a form that is convenient for working with a grater.
A special feature of this cheese is its original technology, which makes it possible to obtain cheese simultaneously from casein and albumin.
With the usual method of producing cheeses, after the formation of a casein cheese curd, albumin proteins remain in the whey, and then, when the whey is heated above 80 C, they precipitate, which is ricotta.
Cow's milk is used on the farm to produce caciocavallo cheese. Its small production is almost all year round depending on the availability of milk.
The main production of cheeses from sheep and goat milk begins in March, when most productive animals are in active lactation and natural pastures are already covered with fresh grass. Production ends at the end of June-early July.
The cheeses produced are generally aged for up to 9 months. Until the end of September, all cheeses are ripened in the cantina, and then the cheeses are moved downstairs...
In that same grotto, or cellar, or cave. As anyone likes!
Together with Signor Luigi we went down to the grotto.
Its premises are located underground at a depth of 2 meters.
Pay attention to the different colors of the stones on the front and side walls. Natural water seeps through the front wall, so this grotto-cellar has very high humidity (up to 90%).
High humidity and constant temperature (14-15 C) promote active mold formation. The peculiarities of the climate of the grotto, together with the biochemical influence of molds, lead to a softening of the cheese forms, in which the final ripening of the cheese mass occurs and its taste improves.
When we met Signor Luigi at the fair in Cannalonga, he offered for tasting cheeses that had just been extracted from this very grotto cave. That’s why we were so impressed by their amazing taste.
It must be said that Signor Luigi sold all the “cave” cheeses brought in one evening, to the envy of all the other cheese sellers. The bright advantages of the product and its reasonable prices, which only the manufacturer could afford, were the best sales drivers.
I hope that now it is clear to my readers why Signor Luigi considers the cheese cave the pride and pinnacle of his small family production.
To finally convince us of the authenticity of everything told about his cheeses, Signor Luigi took us to see the production phases of his cheese production.
A small cheese factory with traditional equipment best demonstrated that Signora Luigi's cheeses are an absolute tribute to the local cheese-making tradition.
Later, when I began to look for information on the cheeses of Southern Italy, I read documents with disciplinary requirements for their traditional production. The demands included copper cauldrons and even a wooden pole for breaking the cheese curd that Signor Luigi was holding.
If you're interested, the photo shows the lower parts of such poles.
On the day we were on the farm, they didn’t cook cheese, because... Now is the period when there is very little milk. We did not warn about our visit, however, we found the cheese factory in perfect order. I immediately saw a woman’s hand.
And it's true! A woman works in a cheese factory and works alone.
During the visit, I was very surprised that a woman was engaged in cheese making, because... This is usually a male profession. Signor Luigi just shrugged his shoulders to my surprise and noted that his employee had been doing her job very well for a long time.
Yes, that would be fine! Only the same informative sources threw up a new discovery that in Southern Italy, in particular in Cilento, women are traditionally involved in cheese making.
That’s why Signor Luigi shrugged: he simply lives and works within the traditions of the territory!
I was especially proud to be shown the animals on the farms.
I instantly fell in love with this Jersey chick! Just look at her chiseled facial features! This is a real Arab with a pike profile!
For those who are not into the horse topic, let me explain that I mean the Arabian breed; a distinctive feature of some of its representatives is the “pike profile” of the head.
Returning to the breed, it should be noted that Jersey milk is very close to sheep milk in terms of fat content. Why is this breed among the black-and-white Friesians?
While I was convincing the heifer's mother to come out from under the tree for a photo shoot, Signor Luigi was explaining to me his zootechnical ideas for crossing high-milk Friesians with high-fat Jersey Jerseys to produce milk more suitable for the production of Caciocavallo cheese.
The sheep returned to the farm to wait out the heat of the day under the sheds.
We distracted from the “sheep” theme with the shepherd dogs that came with the herd. I saw the excellent work of a German Shepherd as a shepherd. A real shepherd simply followed the flock, and the shepherd guided the sheep under the shed, preventing them from wandering off.
Maremman Shepherd and...
The descendant of our Caucasian Shepherd did not even interfere with the work of their colleagues. They have other tasks: they protect the herd.
It was so interesting to see with my own eyes the functionality of different herding dog breeds in action, and not at a dog show, that I forgot about the men...
And they immediately realized that the three of them were having a lively discussion. It's not hard to guess what the topic is. No, it was not women and football that were the focus, but politics and the problems it creates for those involved in agricultural production.
When we drove through these lands, abandoned in large areas, I thought that there were times when cruel wars were fought for these most fertile lands, blood was shed and people died, and now no one needs the land... It’s sad and unfair for ourselves lands capable of producing many times more than they currently receive from them...
However, such discussions are not for my blog. I can afford to talk about cavernousness in the topic of cheeses, but political cavernousness, unfortunately, is not my strong point.
P.S. Sources used.
Regardless of the type of cheese, the process of making it is always approximately the same. Cheese recipes differ mainly in the presence of additional ingredients, their type, temperature conditions for processing the cheese mass, conditions of pressing and salting, drying and ripening. But in all recipes for making cheese, both homemade and in mass production, certain stages take place, which we will now consider.
This is an important stage, because a lot depends on the sanitary condition of the equipment. All inventory and equipment must be sterilized before use. It is necessary to measure and prepare all the ingredients specified in the recipe. Also at this stage, it is necessary to prepare for the addition of a coagulant (milk-clotting enzyme), calcium chloride and dyes (if used): they must first be dissolved in water in the proportions specified in the recipe.
At this stage, it is necessary to heat the milk to the temperature specified in the recipe (most often, 31-33 ° C). If there is no cheese factory, a water bath of two pans is used to heat the milk. This allows the milk to be heated more evenly and prevents it from sticking to the walls and bottom of the pan. Also at this stage, calcium chloride is added (if its use is specified in the recipe).
After the milk reaches the desired temperature, starter cultures (mesophilic, thermophilic, or a combination of cultures) are added according to the recipe. Dry starter is sprinkled onto the surface of the milk, wait for 2-3 minutes, then stirred, distributing throughout the entire volume of milk, then left to activate for 30-45 minutes. If a mother starter is used, it takes 10-15 minutes to activate.
Also at this stage, additional cultures specified in the recipe are introduced: molds, propionic bacteria, surface mucus bacteria.
At this stage, the milk-clotting enzyme, previously diluted in water, is added to the milk and then mixed. It takes approximately 40-60 minutes to form a cheese curd (coagulation). This time will vary and depends on the quality of the milk, as well as what family of cheese you are preparing (soft, semi-hard or hard). .
When the clot is formed, i.e. the milk has become jelly-like, is easy to cut, does not stain the knife ( see clean finger test), the stage is considered completed.
The formed cheese curd must be cut into equal cubes 0.5-1.5 cm in size. As a rule, this procedure is carried out with a long knife, a slotted spoon, a whisk or a special lyre.
This stage is typical for most hard or semi-hard cheeses. The temperature of the curd slowly rises to the values specified in the recipe (depending on the type of starter). The curd must be stirred continuously. At this time, whey is released from the cheese grain (synersis), it becomes smaller in size and more elastic (indeed, it begins to look like grain). At the same stage, it is possible to regulate the acidity of the cheese mass by replacing a certain proportion of whey with pasteurized water (the so-called washing of the cheese grain). At the end of the stage, the cheese mass is left for a few minutes to settle to the bottom of the pan and the excess whey is decanted or drained.
The finished cheese mass is transferred to a colander until the whey is separated. Some cheese recipes call for cheddarization, which is done at this stage. Afterwards, the cheese mass is transferred into molds, in accordance with the instructions in the recipe.
There are 2 methods of pressing cheese, which are used depending on the type of cheese: self-pressing (soft, semi-soft cheeses) and mechanical pressing (under the influence of a load, hard and semi-hard cheeses)
As a rule, pressing of hard and semi-hard cheese is carried out in several stages with a gradual increase in weight and regular turning of the cheese in the mold (so that pressing occurs evenly throughout the entire body of the cheese).
Self-pressing cheeses are placed in a special mold (without a bottom or with a removable bottom), and then after a certain time the mold is turned upside down, thus pressing the cheese on the other side. So turn the mold over several times until the cheese is completely formed.
At this stage the cheese is salted. Depending on the method of salting the cheese, this stage may occur before or after pressing. It is necessary to salt cheese, even if you do not like salty things: salt regulates the biochemical and microbiological processes in cheese. Salting cheese gives it a certain taste, and the consistency and structure of the cheese depends on the intensity of salting. Most often, rennet cheeses are salted in a special salt bath or brine after pressing, but some varieties are salted in the grain before pressing.
Hard and semi-hard varieties of cheese must be dried before being sent to the ripening chamber so that an even hard layer is formed on the surface - a cheese crust. The integrity and quality of the natural crust is a very important indicator, even if the cheese is coated with wax or other coatings before ripening. The crust promotes proper ripening of the cheese and protects the body of the cheese from harmful environmental influences. The cheese is dried, as a rule, for 2-5 days, in well-ventilated dry areas at room temperature until the surface layer dries completely and a hard crust forms. During this period, the cheese is turned over 2-3 times a day to ensure even drying.
After drying the cheese, it is necessary to prepare it for sending it to ripening in special chambers. First, you need to make sure that the crust is already fully formed. If white mold or plaque has formed on it, simply wash it with a towel dipped in saline solution or scrape it off with a knife. After this, the area should dry. There are various ways preparing cheese for ripening: coating with wax, latex coating, placing in a shrink bag for ripening, bandaging (wrapping the cheese with gauze or muslin) (). Often a natural crust is left on the cheese, which is lubricated during the ripening process, for example, with olive oil (for example, Parmesan).
Immediately after production, all cheeses have approximately the same taste. And it begins to differ gradually, during the ripening process of the cheese. At this time, the starters, molds, and other additives introduced during the cheese preparation process do their work. The ripening period is determined by the type of cheese. Fresh cheeses can be eaten just a couple of weeks after preparation, and some hard cheeses take years to mature and become more delicious every year. As a rule, hard cheeses are matured either in special cheese caves or in special chambers. These rooms must have strictly defined temperature and humidity conditions. Allowable temperature range: 10-15° C. Humidity should be quite high, 75-90%. In standard refrigerators in which food is stored, such conditions are almost impossible to create. Therefore, at home, to ripen cheeses, you need to allocate a separate special refrigerator in which to maintain this regime. Cheeses coated with latex, wax, or wrapped in a shrink bag for ripening are not affected by low humidity; they are reliably protected from drying out by the coating. In other cases, with low humidity, it is recommended to place cheeses in special closed containers, in which it is easier to regulate the humidity level.
If the temperature in the ripening room is set too low, this can cause various defects in the cheese, such as sour or bitter taste.
When ripening cheeses with a natural rind, the formation of a white coating or mold on the surface is acceptable. If they appear, you need to wipe these places with a towel soaked in vinegar or saline solution.
