FAQ

How do I subscribe to the blogs?

The URL for the rss/xml feed is http://curdnerds.com/?q=node/feed

Do I need to register?

You do not need to register to view blog entries, search the site, or browse the links. However, to post comments on blogs you must register. This is to prevent an overwhelming amount of comment spam that would otherwise occur. The information you send during registration will not be shared with any entities outside of curdnerds.com. If you have any problems with registration, please email us at info@curdnerds.com

How are different types of cheese classified?

It is very difficult to find a system of cheese taxonomy such that any given cheese can be assigned to one and only one category. Still, the following categories are generally accepted to be the most descriptive while overlapping the least.

BLOOMY-RIND: describes cheeses that have a mold-ripened rind, such as Brie and Camembert.

BLUE: describes cheeses whose interiors are ripened by blue, green and purple molds. Examples are Roquefort, Stilton and Gorgonzola.

FRESH: describes cheese that do not undergo an aging stage, such as "Chevre," Ricotta and Quark.

PASTA FILATA (SPUN CURD): describes cheeses whose curds are "spun" during manufacture, creating a stringy, taffy-like texture. Examples are Mozzarella and Provolone.

PRESSED: this category is very general, and can include cheeses in all the other categories. It refers to a step in manufacture in which the whey is forced from the curd using some kind of squeezing mechanism. Examples are Cheddar, Swiss, and Gouda.

WASHED-RIND: describes cheeses that have a bacteria-ripened rind, which is applied during affinage by washing the cheese with a bacterial rinse. Examples are Epoisses, Gruyere, and Taleggio.

Again, there are cheeses that can fit into more than one of these categories. For instance Gruyere is both a pressed, and a washed-rind cheese. However, these categories are about as good as it gets.

How can I send feedback to the webmaster?

Send all questions, complaints, and suggestions to the following address: feedback@curdnerds.com.

How does one make cheese?

Every variety of cheese is made in a unique way, though most cheese recipes can be condensed into eight basic steps. (These eight basic steps were first outlined by Frank Kosikowski in his book Cheese and Fermented Milk Foods.) More cheesemaking resources are listed on this page. Below the eight steps is a link to a diagram showing how different manufacturing methods lead to different varieties of cheese.

1) SET THE MILK: This is the act of coagulating the milk into a curd, and can be accomplished with either rennet (a mixture of enzymes derived from the fourth stomach of ruminant animals), or an acid such as lactic acid or vinegar, or sometimes a combination of both.

2) CUT THE CURD: Depending on the type of cheese being made, the curd is cut into pieces of varying sizes. This serves to expel the whey that had been previously trapped in the curd. Whey is simply a mix of water, milk solids, and whey proteins. The curd on the other hand is made up of casein (a specific kind of protein) and milk fat.

3) COOK AND HOLD THE CURDS: This step causes the curds to firm up and expel more whey.

4) DRAIN THE WHEY: This step formally separates the curd (which will end up being your final cheese) from the whey.

5) KNIT THE CURDS: During this step, the curd pieces come together into one mass.

6) PRESS THE CURDS: During pressing, more whey is expelled, the curds become more closely-knit, and the cheese takes a definite shape and texture. Most hard cheeses are pressed in a cheese press with active force, while most soft cheeses are pressed under their own weight by gravity.

7) SALT THE CURDS: Adding salt to the curds serves many purposes, including expelling more whey, controlling the final moisture content of the cheese, preserving the cheese by inhibiting bacterial growth, and adding flavor.

8) SPECIAL APPLICATIONS: This step really depends on what kind of cheese you're making. For instance, if you're making Mozzarella cheese, here's where you'd pull and stretch the cheese in hot water to create the stringy structure. If you're making bloomy-rind cheese, you might spray the outside surface with hydrated mold spores.

Cheese Varieties and Their Differing Methods of Manufacture

A diagram taken from Harold McGee's excellent food science book On Food and Cooking, which shows basic types of cheese and how they differ by manufacture. Click on the image to see a larger version.

What are some terms I can use to describe cheese?

The following is from the French affineur Herv&#233 Mons' teaching materials.

The appearance

The texture

The smell**

The taste**

  • acidic
  • sour
  • bitter
  • salty
  • sweet
  • pungent
  • tangy
  • metallic
  • fresh
  • piquant
  • fruity
  • moldy
  • astringent
  • tastes like:
    • caramel
    • butter
    • cream
    • dried fruits (nut, wanut, apricot)
    • fresh fruits (grapes, apple, pear)
    • honey
    • soap
    • mushroom
    • cooked milk
    • fresh milk

*the different colors of the rind can come from its age, its family and the mold developed on the cheese. It can go from yellow to bright orange. And it's completely natural! The shape gives you information about the cheese type or family.

**it's interesting to notice that each main sensation coincides with the origin of the cheese:

  • Grass: floral, hay, straw

  • Milk: buttery, creamy, lactic acid, whey
  • Animal: goat, cow, sheep
  • Caves: mushroom, woody, earthy

What is raw milk cheese vs. pasteurized cheese vs. thermalized cheese?

Pasteurization was invented by Louis Pasteur in the middle of the 19th century. It describes the process of heating liquids in order to reduce the levels of viruses, bacteria, molds, yeasts, and protozoa present in the liquid. Milk is a very friendly environment for the growth of micro-organisms (it's loaded with lactose, or milk sugar), and pasteurization has historically made milk (and dairy in general) much safer. However there are also micro-organisms living in milk that are beneficial to human health and also to the process of cheesemaking, and these are also decimated by pasteurization.

There are several methods of pasteurization, all of which have different effects on the milk especially with regards to cheesemaking. HTST (high temperature, short time) pasteurization calls for heating the milk to 71.7 °C/161 °F for 15-20 seconds. UHT (ultra high temperature) pasteurization calls for heating the milk to 138 °C/250 °F for a split second. Such a high temperature actually cooks the milk and renders it unsuitable for cheesemaking. It is a widely used technique, however, since it drastically extends the shelf of the milk.

Raw milk cheese is made without pasteurizing the milk first, the way that cheese had been made for thousands of years until the 19th century. Proponents of raw milk cheese argue that the beneficial micro-organisms in the milk contribute unique flavors to the cheese, while the cheesemaking process itself serves to limit the number of harmful micro-organisms if done under sanitary conditions. Since the 1940s the U.S. has banned all raw milk cheeses aged fewer than 60 days, since it is thought that any micro-organisms living in the cheese would not be able to survive past that.

There is a third type of milk treatment, thermalization, which involves heating the milk only to 60-65 °C/140-150 °F for 15 to 30 seconds then chilling before re-heating at the start of cheesemaking. This process reduces the number of micro-organisms, but not so much so that the resulting cheese will be without flavor. The United States FDA considers this still to be raw milk, while the European Union considered it pasteurized.

What's the best way to properly store cheese at home?

Here are some general suggestions about how to properly store cheese at home. The challenge is that cheese needs an environment that fulfills seemingly contradictory needs; it needs to be somewhere where air can flow in and out, but where moisture loss is kept at a minimum.

  • The first rule is to buy only as much as you need; cheese is best shortly after it is cut from the wheel.
  • If you are keeping cheese for more than a day or so, enjoy it quickly because every day that cheese hangs around in the fridge means a noticeable decrease in quality.
  • The softer the cheese, the harder it will be to keep fresh for a long time.
  • People generally recommend keeping the cheese in the warmest part of the fridge, but I find that this doesn't really matter as long as you give the cheese enough time to come to room temperature when you're ready to eat it again.
  • One method I really like is to wrap the cheese first in breathable paper such as parchment paper, and then cover the whole thing in plastic wrap. Plastic wrap keeps in moisture nicely, but can impart off flavors if left touching the surface of the cheese. And if you use parchment only, you'll lose too much moisture. The combination of the two usually does the trick.
  • Another method is to place some rolled up paper towels in a tupperware container, and then place the cheese on top of the paper. Closing the lid tightly creates a sealed environment that helps moisture stay in, while the paper towels help keep it from getting too wet in there. Be sure to open the container once a day to let some fresh air in.

If you have any other suggestions, please leave them in the comments below!

Who created this page (Contact Info)?

This page was created by Jamie Forrest (jamie AT curdnerds DOT com), who realized that A) there are no other sites like it, and B) that he really, really, REALLY likes cheese.

Why do some blog entries seem to stop in the middle of a sentence?

This usually means that the blog entry is fairly long and continues past a couple of paragraphs. Clink on the link below the story that says "read more" to view the rest of the article.