The Finest Selection World Cheese Book: Tasting Notes, Over 750 Cheeses, How to Enjoy

352 Pages·2009·43.11 MB·english

by  Juliet Harbutt

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WORLD
CHEESE
BOOK

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Juliet Harbutt

WORLD
CHEESE
BOOK

WORLD
CHEESE
BOOK
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
JULIET HARBUTT
CONTRIBUTORS
ANDROUET • MARTIN ASPINWALL • VINCENZO BOZZETTI • KEVIN JOHN BROOME
RAN BUCK • SAGI COOPER • DIANNE CURTIN • JIM DAVIES • SHEANA DAVIS
ANGELA GRAY • RIE HIJIKATA • RUMIKO HONMA • KATIE JARVIS • MONIKA LINTON
GURTH PRETTY • HANSUELI RENZ • RICHARD SUTTON • WILL STUDD
KATE ARDING • AAD VERNOOIJ • STÉPHANE BLOHORN
DK INDIA
Senior Art Editors Ivy Roy, Ira Sharma
Art Editor Era Chawla
Assistant Editor Saumya Gaur
Senior Editor Nidhilekha Mathur
Deputy Managing Editor Bushra Ahmed
Managing Editor Alicia Ingty
Managing Art Editor Navidita Thapa
DTP Designers Satish Chandra Gaur, Anurag Trivedi,
Manish Chandra Upreti
Pre-production Manager Sunil Sharma
DK UK
Managing Editor Dawn Henderson
Managing Art Editor Christine Keilty
Senior Jacket Creative Nicola Powling
Producer, Pre-Production Rebecca Fallowfield
Senior Producer Jen Scothern
Art Director Peter Luff
Category Publisher Peggy Vance
2009 Edition
DK UK Project Editor Danielle Di Michiel
Senior Art Editor Elly King
Editorial Assistants Shashwati Tia Sarkar, Erin Boeck Motum
Designer William Hicks
Managing Editor Dawn Henderson
Managing Art Editor Christine Keilty
Senior Jacket Creative Nicola Powling
Senior Production Editor Jennifer Murray
Production Controller Alice Holloway
Creative Technical Support Sonia Charbonnier
DK INDIA DTP Designers Dheeraj Arora, Preetam Singh, Jagtar Singh
Senior Designer Tannishtha Chakraborty
Design Manager Romi Chakraborty
Head of Publishing Aparna Sharma
First published in Great Britain in 2009 by Dorling Kindersley Limited
80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL
A Penguin Random House Company
This revised edition published in Great Britain in 2015 by Dorling Kindersley Limited
2 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1
001 – 262224 – June/2015
Copyright © 2009, 2015 Dorling Kindersley Limited
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in
a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior written
permission of the copyright owners.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978-02-411-86-57-2
Printed and bound in China
A WORLD OF IDEAS:
SEE ALL THERE IS TO KNOW
www.dk.com
CONTENTS
Introduction 6 Germany, Austria,
Understanding Cheese 8 and Switzerland 232
Using this Book 9 Germany 233
Fresh Cheeses 10 Austria 236
Aged Fresh Cheeses 12 Switzerland 238
Soft White Cheeses 14 Special Features
Semi-soft Cheeses 16 Emmentaler 240
Hard Cheeses 18
Blue Cheeses 20 Scandinavia 244
Flavor-added Cheeses 22 Denmark 245
The Perfect Cheese Board 24 Norway 247
Sweden 248
France 26 Finland 251
Special Features Latvia 252
Beaufort 38 Lithuania 253
Brie de Meaux 46
Comté 56 Eastern Europe and
Époisses de Bourgogne 64 the Near East 254
Reblochon de Savoie 74
Greece 256
Roquefort 82
Romania 260
Sainte-Maure de Touraine 92
Slovakia 260
Turkey 261
Italy 100
Cyprus 261
Special Features Lebanon 264
Gorgonzola 108 Israel 264
Mozzarella di Bufala 118 Special Features
Parmigiano-Reggiano 128 Feta 258
Taleggio 136 Halloumi 262
Spain and Portugal 144 The Americas 266
Spain 146 United States 270
Portugal 165 Canada 310
Special Features Mexico 318
Mahòn 152 Brazil 319
Manchego 160 Argentina 319
Special Features
Great Britain and Monterey Jack 286
Ireland 168
England 170 China and Japan 320
Scotland 206 China 322
Wales 212 Japan 323
Ireland 215
Special Features Australia and
Cheddar 178
New Zealand 326
Stilton 192
Yarg Cornish Cheese 200 Australia 328
Caboc 210 New Zealand 335
Caerphilly 216
Glossary 344
Low Countries 224
Index 346
Belgium 225 Contributors 351
The Netherlands 228 Acknowledgments 352
Special Features
Gouda 230
Introduction
Evidence of cheesemaking dates back to 2800 BCE, but the discovery of cheese
would have come about as a happy accident. Any milk left to warm by a fire
or stored in a sack made from the stomach of an animal would have soured,
causing the milk solids (the curds) and liquid (the whey) to coagulate and
separate—allowing humans to learn that their most precious commodity, milk,
could be preserved in the form of cheese and, eventually, that rennet, an enzyme
found in the stomach of the milk-producing animal, was the coagulant.
The Story of Cheese
know today as Trappist or monastery cheeses, of which
Now, some 5,000 years later, cheese is made all over Maroilles of Northern France was probably the first.
the world with all kinds of milk, from reindeer’s milk in
Historically, a cheese’s size was determined by the
Lapland, to buffalo’s milk in Australia, and yak’s milk
amount of milk available and the proximity to the
in the Kingdom of Bhutan. The miracle of cheese is that,
nearest market. Hence, mountain cheese tended to
although milk tastes virtually the same the world over,
be large, with the farmers combining their milk to make
the diversity of textures, tastes, and aromas of cheese
slow-ripening cheeses they could sell at the end of the
is almost infinite, and virtually any cheese can be made
summer months when the cows returned to the valleys.
anywhere in the world. The size, shape, and milk of a
Those made in the valleys and near large markets would
cheese, however, has been determined by such diverse
have been smaller, quicker to ripen, and sold at weekly
N external forces as historical events, centuries
O of experimentation, religious markets. Shape was determined
I by the sophistication of the
T orders, and the terrain, while
C maker and the raw materials
U the nuances of texture and
available to make the molds,
D taste are influenced by the
O whether woven grass, fired
raw materials—the type
R
clay, or wood.
T and breed of animal, the
N
I soil, the grazing, the climate, Today, Europe’s traditional
the microclimate, and the cheeses are typically made
ingenuity of the cheesemaker. in designated areas by
various artisan producers
European cheeses owe whose combined volume is
much to the knowledge of sufficiently high that the
6 the Greeks and, later, the cheese can be found around
Romans, who built on that the world. Classic examples
knowledge and took their include raw milk Camembert
recipes for making cheese de Normandie (see p44), made
across Europe to feed their by only ten producers, and
legions as their Empire Parmigiano-Reggiano (see
spread—a legacy clearly seen p128), made by around 400
throughout Europe to this day. producers. Artisan cheeses
The Middle Ages saw the developed in the last 35 years
proliferation of monastic or so, however, tend to be
orders across Europe and into invented by individual
Britain and Ireland, particularly cheesemakers and are often
the Benedictine and, later, hard to find outside their
the Cistercian monks, who region or country of origin,
The ancient art of cheesemaking is lovingly depicted
developed the cheeses we in this colorful Swiss wood engraving. even if made in large volumes.
The Raw Materials How Cheese Is Made
The individual identity and personality of a cheese is Cheesemaking equipment and methods vary from
determined by a number of facts of nature. cheesemaker to cheesemaker, but the basic principles
involved have remained unchanged for thousands of years.
The climate and landscape, including the minerals in
the soil, affect what plants grow, and therefore what a 1 The milk Ideally, milk is pumped straight from the
milk-producing animal eats, thereby influencing the milking parlor to the dairy, where it is checked and tested
subtle flavors of the milk. Even the most unobservant to be sure it is pure and clean. It may then be pasteurized,
cannot fail to see and smell the difference between fresh typically at 165ºF (73ºC) for 15 seconds. The milk is
grass, wild clover, and meadow flowers compared with transferred to a vat and heated until it reaches the
compacted feed, silage, or turnips. Minerals also affect the acidity level required for the type of cheese being made.
speed of ripening, the texture, and the flavor of cheese.
2 Coagulation or curdling Once the acidity reaches
The animal and its grazing habits add another the desired level, a special cocktail of lactic bacteria or
dimension. The comfort-loving cow is largely found in lush “starter culture” is added. This both converts the lactose
valleys, rich plains, and sunny mountain pastures. Goats, to lactic acid and contributes to the flavor, aroma, and
unlike cows and sheep, are browsers, tearing sparse but texture of the cheese. (Too much or not enough acidity
aromatic flora from fencerows, craggy peaks, rock-strewn results in imperfect cheeses.) Most cheeses are made by
valleys or, when the opportunity arises, the farmer’s adding rennet (derived from the stomach of a ruminant
carefully manicured garden. The resulting milk is mammal) or another coagulant to make sure the protein
herbaceous, like a crisp, white wine infused with herbs, and fat in the milk bond and are not lost in the whey.
becoming like marzipan or ground almonds with age. Curdling is the fundamental step in cheesemaking,
The sweet, almost caramel, taste of ewe’s milk has been as the degree of coagulation determines the final I
N
valued in Europe and the Middle East for thousands of moisture content of the cheese, and this in turn T
years. The numerous breeds adapt to almost any climate, affects the speed of the fermentation process. R
O
some surviving on seemingly nothing, yielding but a few D
liters of milk per day, imbued with the essence of the wild, 3 Separation of curds and whey The freshly formed U
aromatic herbs, grasses, and flowers that form their diet. curd looks like white jelly, while the whey is a yellow-green C
T
The breed of animal can also be a factor. Compared with liquid. Gently separating the curds from the whey creates I
O
the high yield of the Friesian, for example, Guernsey or soft, high-moisture cheeses, while cutting the curds expels N
Jersey cows produce less milk with larger fat globules that more whey and produces harder cheeses. The finer the curd
produce a richer, smoother, deep Monet yellow cheese, is cut, the harder and finer-grained the final cheese. The
and the sweet, mellifluous milk of the Montbéliarde cow is whey is drained off once it reaches the desired acidity.
renowned throughout the Savoie region of France.
4 Shaping and salting The curds are then piled into
molds or hoops and may be pressed before being turned
The microclimate of both the milk and the cheese room 7
out of their molds. Once out of the mold, the cheese is
provide the finishing touch. Tiny, colorful, wind-borne
rubbed or sprinkled with salt or soaked in brine before
molds and yeasts treat each new batch of protein-rich
being placed in a cold room or cellar to age.
curd as a canvas on which to create their daily masterpiece,
while milk-borne bacteria prefer the seclusion and
5 Aging and the affineur The aging process is the
warmth of the interior to work their magic. These convert
art and science of cheesemaking, as it brings out the
the sweet milk sugar, lactose, into lactic acid and so begin
character of the milk and the unique flavors attributed
the fermentation process. Once an accident of nature,
to the grazing. A good affineur, someone who ripens
most have been harnessed by cheesemakers to ensure
cheeses, can nurture the simplest cheese to yield every
that the end result is more predictable. These microflora,
nuance of flavor. Artisan cheeses vary from day to day,
along with the subtleties inherent in milk, are lost when
depending on the grazing, the season, the conditions in
the milk is pasteurized and must be reintroduced in the
the cheese room, and the cheesemaker; so, unlike wine,
form of a cocktail of bacteria known as a starter culture.
cheese has a vintage every day, which is what makes it
Regrettably, these laboratory-produced cultures cannot
so extraordinary and wonderful.
emulate the complexity provided by Mother Nature.
Understanding
Cheese
There is no universal system for identifying cheeses. Instead,
FRESH CHEESES HARD CHEESES
(See pp10–11) every cheese-producing country has its own system using (See pp18–19)
technical terms such as semi-hard, semi-cooked, pressed
uncooked, smear-ripened, or washed-curd that are all but
meaningless, and confusing, to cheese lovers.
By contrast, this book uses the Editor-in-Chief’s easy-to-grasp
system of identifying cheese types, based on the type of rind
a cheese grows and its texture.
AGED FRESH CHEESES
(See pp12–13)
The way it works is that the amount of moisture, or whey,
BLUE CHEESES
that is left in the cheese determines not only the texture of (See pp20–21)
the interior, but also the type of rind and molds the cheese
will grow. There is the odd exception that crosses two of
these categories, but most are very obvious.
E
S The Editor-in-Chief’s system (see pp10–23) identifies seven
E
E SOFT WHITE CHEESES different types of cheese:
H (See pp14–15) Fresh, Aged Fresh, Soft White, Semi-soft, Hard,
C
Blue, and Flavor-added.

G FLAVOR-ADDED
N CHEESES (See pp22–23)
I Using this system, with just a glance and a gentle squeeze
D
you can categorize 99 percent of the cheeses you meet,
N
A whether from a French market, a New York cheese shop, or
T
S elsewhere. With a little practice, you can assess a cheese’s
R basic character, strength of flavor, how it will behave when
E
D SEMI-SOFT CHEESES cooked, and even its ripeness and quality.
N (See pp16–17)
U
Denomination and
Designation of Origin
8
Some cheeses have legally protected names linked to their
provenance. Certifying the origin of a cheese recognizes its
terroir (French) or tipicità (Italian), acknowledging that the
unique character of each traditionally made food is a result of
a complex interaction of soil, plant life, and climate, combined
with traditional production methods and raw materials—
a combination that cannot be replicated elsewhere. There
are various national systems, such as the French AOC
(Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée) and the Italian DOC
(Denominazione d’Origine Controllata), as well as the European
In 1666, Roquefort was the first cheese to
Community–created PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) for be protected by law, the forerunner for the
traditional regional wines and food made throughout the EC. AOC system in France.