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Knowing your cheeses

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Cheeses

 

Article supplied by Carron Lodge

A well-balanced and varied cheeseboard is a delight all year around – whether you offer it after the dessert, or as the French do, after the main course and before the dessert – or as many prefer, an alternative to dessert. Whichever option you or your customers choose, a good cheeseboard should have a cheese from as many of the categories as your cheeseboard will accommodate, but should include at least one hard cheese, one blue, a semi-soft and a soft cheese.

With so many varieties to choose from we’ve put together a little guide with some examples of what’s included in the various categories.

All cheeses are derived from milk of one animal or another, and the process of cheese making starts with adding an enzyme such as rennet, an acid such as vinegar, or a starter culture of bacteria to curdle the milk so that it separates into curds and whey. What happens next determines the type of cheese that is created.

Hard Cheeses

These are the most familiar – and include easy to slice cheeses such as Cheddar, Red Leicester and Emmental, as well as crumbly cheeses such as Wensleydale, Lancashire and Cheshire. In Yorkshire it’s a tradition to serve fruit cake with a wedge of Wensleydale, and it makes a great combination.

Other hard cheeses such as Parmesan and Pecorino, though lovely, are best used for cooking with and left off the cheeseboard.

All hard cheeses are made by cutting the curd finely and gently heating to remove the whey. The curds are salted before being placed in perforated moulds to allow the whey to drain. Many cheeses are wrapped in cloth and left to develop. The longer the developing time the more mature and strongly flavoured the cheese. Most European cheeses are soaked in brine before being matured in ripening rooms

Blue Cheeses

The king of all blue cheese is of course Stilton – more Stilton is eaten at Christmas but is still popular on cheese board year-round (usually accompanied by a glass of port).

Other fabulous blue cheeses you could include on your cheeseboard are Blue Ribblesdale, Blue Swaledale, Gorgonzola, or the softer Danish Blue.

The mould in blue cheeses comes from the bacterium Pencillium, which is added to the milk at the beginning of the process. Piercing the cheese with stainless steel rods, once it is firm enough, allows air to enter the cheese – and the Penicillium to grow between the loosely packed curds.

Semi-Soft Cheeses

Mild and rounded in flavour and with a firm but slightly elastic texture and thin rind, examples of popular semi-soft cheeses include Edam, Gouda, Reblochon, Tomme de Savoie, Fontina and Raclette.

After the curd has been cut it is lightly pressed to accelerate draining and then washed in brine before being left to develop. The ripening process is often carried out in cellars and any resulting mould brushed off to inhibit rind formation.

Soft White Cheeses

These are characterised by a white “fuzzy” rind created from Penicillium mould – and of course include Brie and Camembert, as well as British cheeses such as Welsh Pencarreg, Scottish Morangie Brie and Irish Cooleeney.

For optimum flavour the cheese should be ripe and its soft creamy middle should be slightly runny when the rind is cut.

To encourage mould growth on the cheeses and create the rind modern cheesemakers continually spray mould spores into the ripening rooms.

If you wish to include cheese from other categories, we would suggest adding a smoked cheese and a soft goats’ cheese roule. If you’re feeling particularly bold you might want to include something smelly. Stinking Bishop needs no further description! Or a popular flavoured cheese such as White Stilton with Strawberries and Champagne or Wensleydale with Cranberry.

Whether you want to focus on British regional cheeses or include cheeses from all over Europe for your cheeseboard, Total Foodservice & Carron Lodge have an amazing selection on offer.

View the Carron Lodge Range

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