Cheese

Cheeseis a type ofdairy productproduced in a range of flavors,textures, and forms bycoagulationof the milk proteincasein. It comprisesproteinsand fat from milk (usually the milk ofcows,buffalo,goatsorsheep). During production, milk is usuallyacidifiedand either the enzymes ofrennetor bacterial enzymes with similar activity are added to cause the casein to coagulate. The solidcurdsare then separated from the liquidwheyand pressed into finished cheese.Some cheeses have aromaticmoldson the rind, the outer layer, or throughout.
Over a thousandtypes of cheeseexist, produced in various countries. Their styles, textures and flavors depend on the origin of the milk (including the animal's diet), whether they have beenpasteurised, thebutterfatcontent, the bacteria andmold, the processing, and how long they have beenaged. Herbs, spices, orwood smokemay be used asflavoring agents.  Other added ingredients may includeblack pepper, garlic,chivesorcranberries. A cheesemonger, or specialist seller of cheeses, may have expertise with selecting, purchasing, receiving, storing and ripening cheeses.
Most cheeses are acidified by bacteria, which turnmilk sugarsintolactic acid; the addition of rennet completes the curdling. Vegetarian varieties of rennet are available; most are produced throughfermentationby the fungusMucor miehei, but others have been extracted fromCynarathistles. For a few cheeses, the milk iscurdledby addingacidssuch as vinegar orlemon juice.
Cheese is valued for its portability, longshelf life, and high content of fat, protein,calcium, andphosphorus. Cheese is more compact and has a longer shelf life than milk.Hard cheeses, such asParmesan, last longer than soft cheeses, such asBrieorgoat's milk cheese. The long storage life of some cheeses, especially when encased in a protective rind, allows selling when markets are favorable.Vacuum packagingof block-shaped cheeses andgas-flushingof plastic bags with mixtures ofcarbon dioxideandnitrogenare used for storage andmass distributionof cheeses in the 21st century,compared with the paper and twine that was used in the 20th and 19th century.
The wordcheesecomes fromLatincaseus,from which the modern wordcaseinis derived. The earliest source is from theproto-Indo-Europeanroot*kwat-, which means "toferment, become sour". That gave rise tocīeseorcēse(inOld English) andchese(inMiddle English). Similar words are shared by otherWest Germanic languages—West Frisiantsiis,Dutchkaas, GermanKäse,Old High Germanchāsi—all from the reconstructed West-Germanic form*kāsī, which in turn is an early borrowing from Latin.
TheOnline Etymological Dictionarystates that "cheese" derives from:
TheOnline Etymological Dictionarystates that the word is of:
When the Romans began to make hard cheeses for theirlegionaries' supplies, a new word started to be used:formaticum, fromcaseus formatus, or "cheese shaped in a mold". It is from this word that the Frenchfromage, standard Italianformaggio,Catalanformatge,Bretonfourmaj, andOccitanfromatge(orformatge) are derived. Of the Romance languages, Spanish,Portuguese,Romanian,Tuscanand some Southern Italian dialects use words derived fromcaseus(queso,queijo,caș,cacioandcasofor example). The wordcheeseis occasionally employed, as inhead cheese, to mean "shaped in a mold".
Cheese is an ancient food whose originspredate recorded history. There is no conclusive evidence indicating where cheesemaking originated, whether inEurope,Central Asiaor theMiddle East. The earliest proposed dates for the origin of cheesemaking range from around 8000 BCE, when sheep were firstdomesticated. Because animal skins and inflated internal organs have provided storage vessels for a range of foodstuffs since ancient times, it is probable that the process of cheese making was discovered accidentally by storing milk in a container made from the stomach of an animal, resulting in the milk being turned tocurdandwheyby the rennet from the stomach.There is alegend—with variations—about the discovery of cheese by an Arab trader who used this method of storing milk.
The earliest evidence of cheesemaking in the archaeological record dates back to 5500 BCE and is found in what is nowKuyavia, Poland, where strainers coated withmilk-fatmolecules have been found.The earliest evidence of cheesemaking in theMediterraneandates back to 5200 BCE, on the coast of theDalmatiaregion ofCroatia.
Cheesemaking may have begun independently of this by the pressing and salting of curdled milk to preserve it. Observation that the effect of making cheese in an animal stomach gave more solid and better-textured curds may have led to the deliberate addition of rennet. Earlyarcheologicalevidence ofEgyptian cheesehas been found inEgyptiantomb murals, dating to about 2000 BCE.A 2018 scientific paper stated that cheese dating to approximately 1200 BCE (3200 years before present), was found in ancient Egyptian tombs.The earliest ever discovered preserved cheese was found on mummies inXiaohe Cemeteryin the Taklamakan Desert inXinjiang, China, dating back as early as 1615 BCE.
The earliest cheeses were likely quite sour and salty, similar in texture to rusticcottage cheeseorfeta, a crumbly, flavorful Greek cheese. Cheese produced in Europe, where climates are cooler than the Middle East, required less salt for preservation. With less salt and acidity, the cheese became a suitable environment for usefulmicrobesand molds, giving aged cheeses their respective flavors.
AncientGreek mythologycreditedAristaeuswith the discovery of cheese.Homer'sOdyssey(8th century BCE) describes the monstrousCyclopsmaking and storing sheep's and goats' milk cheese (translation bySamuel Butler):
Columella'sDe Re Rustica(c. 65 CE) details a cheesemaking process involving rennet coagulation, pressing of the curd, salting, and aging. According toPliny the Elder, it had become a sophisticated enterprise by the time theRoman Empirecame into being.Pliny the Elder also mentions in his writingsCaseus Helveticus, a hardSbrinz-like cheese produced by theHelvetii.Cheese was an everyday food and cheesemaking a mature art in the Roman empire.Pliny'sNatural History(77  CE) devotes a chapter (XI, 97) to describing the diversity of cheeses enjoyed by Romans of the early Empire. He stated that the best cheeses came from the villages nearNîmes, but did not keep long and had to be eaten fresh. Cheeses of theAlpsandApennineswere as remarkable for their variety then as now. ALiguriancheese was noted for being made mostly from sheep's milk, and some cheeses produced nearby were stated to weigh as much as a thousand pounds each. Goats' milk cheese was a recent taste in Rome, improved over the "medicinal taste" ofGaul's similar cheeses bysmoking. Of cheeses from overseas, Pliny preferred those ofBithyniain Asia Minor.
c.1000,Anglo-Saxonsin England nameda villageby theRiver ThamesCeswican, meaning "Cheese farm".In 1022, it is mentioned thatVlach(Aromanian) shepherds fromThessalyand thePindusmountains, in modernGreece, provided cheese forConstantinople.Many cheeses popular today were first recorded in the lateMiddle Agesor after. Cheeses such asCheddararound 1500,Parmesanin 1597,Goudain 1697, andCamembertin 1791 show post-Middle Ages dates.
In 1546,The Proverbs of John Heywoodclaimed "the moon is made of a green cheese" (Greenemay refer here not to the color, as many now think, but to being new or unaged).Variations on this sentiment were long repeated andNASAexploited this myth for anApril Fools' Dayspoof announcement in 2006.
Until its modern spread along with European culture, cheese was nearly unheard of in east Asian cultures and in the pre-Columbian Americas and had only limited use in sub-Mediterranean Africa, mainly being widespread and popular only in Europe, the Middle East, theIndian subcontinent,Tibet,and areas influenced by those cultures. But with the spread, first of European imperialism, and later of Euro-American culture and food, cheese has gradually become known and increasingly popular worldwide.
The first factory for the industrial production of cheese opened in Switzerland in 1815, but large-scale production first found real success in the United States. Credit usually goes to Jesse Williams, a dairy farmer fromRome, New York, who in 1851 started making cheese in anassembly-linefashion using the milk from neighboring farms; this made cheddar cheese one of the first USindustrial foods.Within decades, hundreds of such commercial dairy associations existed.
The 1860s saw the beginnings of mass-produced rennet, and by the turn of the century scientists were producing pure microbial cultures. Before then, bacteria in cheesemaking had come from the environment or from recycling an earlier batch's whey; the pure cultures meant a more standardized cheese could be produced.
Factory-made cheese overtook traditional cheesemaking in theWorld War IIera, and factories have been the source of most cheese in America and Europe ever since.By 2012, cheese was one of the mostshoplifteditems from supermarkets worldwide.
In 2021, world production of cheese from whole cow milk was 22.2 milliontonnes, with the United States accounting for 28% of the total, followed by Germany, France, Italy and theNetherlandsas secondary producers (table).
As of 2021, thecarbon footprintof a kilogram of cheese ranged from 6 to 12 kg ofCO2eq, depending on the amount of milk used; accordingly, it is generally lower than beef or lamb, but higher than other foods.
France, Iceland, Finland, Denmark and Germany were the highest consumers of cheese in 2014, averaging 25 kg (55 lb) per person per annum.
A required step in cheesemaking is to separate the milk into solidcurdsand liquidwhey. Usually this is done by acidifying (souring) the milk and addingrennet. The acidification can be accomplished directly by the addition of an acid, such as vinegar, in a few cases (paneer,queso fresco). More commonlystarter bacteriaare employed instead which convertmilk sugarsintolactic acid. The same bacteria (and theenzymesthey produce) also play a large role in the eventual flavor of aged cheeses. Most cheeses are made with starter bacteria from theLactococcus,Lactobacillus, orStreptococcusgenera.
Swissstarter cultures includePropionibacterium freudenreichii, which producespropionic acidand carbon dioxide gas bubbles during aging, givingEmmental cheeseits holes oreyes.
Some fresh cheeses are curdled only by acidity, but most cheeses also use rennet. Rennet sets the cheese into a strong and rubberygelcompared 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.
While rennet was traditionally produced via extraction from the inner mucosa of the fourth stomach chamber of slaughtered young, unweaned calves, most rennet used today in cheesemaking is producedrecombinantly.The majority of the applied chymosin is retained in the whey and, at most, may be present in cheese in trace quantities. In ripe cheese, the type and provenance of chymosin used in production cannot be determined.
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 35–55 °C (95–131 °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 withthermophilicstarter bacteria that survive this step—eitherLactobacilliorStreptococci.
Salt has roles in cheese besides adding a salty flavor. It preserves cheese from spoiling, draws moisture from the curd, and firms cheese's texture in an interaction with itsproteins. Some cheeses are salted from the outside with dry salt or brine washes. Most cheeses have the salt mixed directly into the curds.
Other techniques influence a cheese's texture and flavor. Some examples are:
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.
A newborn cheese is usually salty yet bland in flavor and, for harder varieties, rubbery in texture. These qualities are sometimes enjoyed—cheese curdsare eaten on their own—but normally cheeses are left to rest under controlled conditions. This aging period (also called ripening, or, from the French,affinage) lasts from a few days to several years. As a cheese ages, microbes and enzymes transform texture and intensify flavor. This transformation is largely a result of the breakdown of casein proteins andmilkfatinto a complex mix ofamino acids,amines, andfatty acids.
Some cheeses have additional bacteria ormoldsintentionally introduced before or during aging. In traditional cheesemaking, these microbes might be already present in the aging room; they are 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. These cheeses include soft ripened cheeses such asBrieandCamembert; blue cheeses such asRoquefort,Stilton,Gorgonzola; andrind-washed cheesessuch asLimburger.
There are many types of cheese, with around 500 different varieties recognized by the International Dairy Federation,more than 400 identified by Walter and Hargrove, more than 500 by Burkhalter, and more than 1,000 by Sandine and Elliker.The varieties may be grouped or classified into types according to criteria such as length of ageing, texture, methods of making, fat content, animal milk, country or region of origin, etc.—with these criteria either being used singly or in combination,but with no single method being universally used.The method most commonly and traditionally used is based on moisture content, which is then further discriminated by fat content and curing or ripening methods.Some attempts have been made to rationalise the classification of cheese—a scheme was proposed by Pieter Walstra which uses the primary and secondary starter combined with moisture content, and Walter and Hargrove suggested classifying by production methods which produces 18 types, which are then further grouped by moisture content.
The British Cheese Board once claimed that Britain had approximately 700 distinct local cheeses;France andItalyhave perhaps 400 each (a French proverb holds there is a different French cheese for every day of the year, andCharles de Gaulleonce asked "how can you govern a country in which there are 246 kinds of cheese?").
Atrefrigeratortemperatures, the fat in a piece of cheese is as hard as unsoftened butter, and its protein structure is stiff as well. Flavor and odor compounds are less easily liberated when cold. For improvements in flavor and texture, it is widely advised that cheeses be allowed to warm up toroom temperaturebefore eating. If the cheese is further warmed, to 26–32 °C (79–90 °F), the fats will begin to "sweat out" as they go beyond soft to fully liquid.
Above room temperatures, most hard cheeses melt. Rennet-curdled cheeses have agel-like protein matrix that is broken down by heat. When enough protein bonds are broken, the cheese itself turns from a solid to a viscous liquid. Soft, high-moisture cheeses will melt at around 55 °C (131 °F), while hard, low-moisture cheeses such as Parmesan remain solid until they reach about 82 °C (180 °F).Acid-set cheeses, includinghalloumi,paneer, some whey cheeses and many varieties of freshgoat cheese, have a protein structure that remains intact at high temperatures. When cooked, these cheeses just get firmer as water evaporates.
Some cheeses, likeraclette, melt smoothly; many tend to become stringy or suffer from a separation of their fats. Many of these can be coaxed into melting smoothly in the presence of acids orstarch.Fondue, with wine providing the acidity, is a good example of a smoothly melted cheese dish.Elastic stringiness is a quality that is sometimes enjoyed, in dishes includingpizzaandWelsh rarebit. Even a melted cheese eventually turns solid again, after enough moisture is cooked off. The saying "you can't melt cheese twice" (meaning "some things can only be done once") refers to the fact that oils leach out during the first melting and are gone, leaving the non-meltable solids behind.
As its temperature continues to rise, cheese willbrownand eventually burn. Browned, partially burned cheese has a particular distinct flavor of its own and is frequently used in cooking (e.g., sprinkling atop items before baking them).
Acheeseboard(or cheese course) may be served at the end of a meal before or following dessert, or replacing the last course. The British tradition is to have cheese after dessert, accompanied by sweet wines likeport. In France, cheese is consumed before dessert, with robust red wine.A cheeseboard typically has contrasting cheeses with accompaniments, such as crackers, biscuits, grapes, nuts, celery orchutney.
A cheeseboard typically contains four to six cheeses, for example: matureCheddarorComté(hard: cow's milk cheeses);BrieorCamembert(soft: cow's milk); a blue cheese such asStilton(hard: cow's milk),Roquefort(medium: ewe's milk) orBleu d'Auvergne(medium-soft cow's milk); and a soft/medium-soft goat's cheese (e.g.Sainte-Maure de Touraine,Pantysgawn,Crottin de Chavignol).
A cheeseboard 70 feet (21 m) long was used to feature the variety of cheeses manufactured inWisconsin,where thestate legislaturerecognizes a "cheesehead" hat as a state symbol.
The nutritional value of cheese varies widely. Cottage cheese may consist of 4% fat and 11% protein while some whey cheeses are 15% fat and 11% protein, andtriple creamcheeses can contain 36% fat and 7% protein.In general, cheese is a rich source (20% or more of theDaily Value, DV) ofcalcium,protein,phosphorus,sodiumandsaturated fat. A 28-gram (oneounce) serving of cheddar cheese contains about 7 grams (0.25 oz) of protein and 202 milligrams of calcium.Nutritionally, cheese is essentially concentrated milk, but altered by the culturing and aging processes: it takes about 200 grams (7.1 oz) of milk to provide that much protein, and 150 grams (5.3 oz) to equal the calcium, though values for water-soluble vitamins and minerals can vary widely.
National health organizations, such as theAmerican Heart Association,Association of UK Dietitians, BritishNational Health Service, andMayo Clinic, among others, recommend that cheese consumption be minimized, replaced in snacks and meals by plant foods, or restricted to low-fat cheeses to reduce caloric intake and blood levels ofLDL fat, which is arisk factorforcardiovascular diseases.
A number of food safety agencies around the world have warned of the risks of raw-milk cheeses. The U.S.Food and Drug Administrationstates that soft raw-milk cheeses can cause "serious infectious diseases includinglisteriosis,brucellosis,salmonellosisandtuberculosis".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 SwissGruyère,EmmentalandSbrinz, and for FrenchRoquefort.There is a trend for cheeses to be pasteurized even when not required by law.
Pregnant women may face an additional risk from cheese: the U.S.Centers for Disease Controlhas warned pregnant women against eating soft-ripened cheeses and blue-veined cheeses, due to thelisteriarisk, which can cause miscarriage or harm the fetus.
Among the few cheeses in Southeast andEast Asian cuisinesispaneer, a fresh acid-set cheese.InNepal, the Dairy Development Corporation commercially manufactures cheese made fromyakmilk and a hard cheese made from either cow or yak milk known aschhurpi.Bhutanproduces a similar cheese calledDatshi, which is a staple in most Bhutanese curries.The national dish ofBhutan,ema datshi, is made from homemade yak ormaremilk cheese and hot peppers.InYunnan, China, several ethnic minority groups produceRushanandRubingfrom cow's milk.Cheese consumption may be increasing in China, with annual sales doubling from 1996 to 2003 (to a still small 30 millionU.S. dollarsa year).
Strict followers of the dietary laws ofIslamand Judaism must avoid cheeses made withrennetfrom animals not slaughtered in accordance withhalalorkosherlaws respectively.
Rennet derived from animal slaughter, and thus cheese made with animal-derived rennet, is not vegetarian. Most widely available vegetarian cheeses are made using rennet produced by fermentation of the fungusMucor miehei.Vegansand other dairy-avoiding vegetarians do not eat conventional cheese, but somevegetable-based cheese substitutes(soyoralmond) are used as substitutes.
Even in cultures with long cheese traditions, consumers may perceive some cheeses that are especially pungent-smelling, ormold-bearing varieties such asLimburgerorRoquefort, as unpalatable. Such cheeses are anacquired tastebecause they are processed using molds ormicrobiological cultures,allowing odor and flavor molecules to resemble those in rotten foods. One author stated: "An aversion to the odor of decay has the obvious biological value of steering us away from possible food poisoning, so it is no wonder that an animal food that gives off whiffs of shoes and soil and the stable takes some getting used to".
There is some support from studies that dairy products can help with insomnia.Scientists have debated how cheese might affect sleep. A folk belief that cheese eaten close to bedtime can cause nightmares may have arisen from the Charles Dickens novellaA Christmas Carol, in which Ebenezer Scrooge attributes his visions of Jacob Marley to the cheese he ate.This belief can also be found in folklore that predates this story.The theory has been disproven multiple times, although night cheese may cause vivid dreams or otherwise disrupt sleep due to its high saturated fat content, according to studies by the British Cheese Board. Other studies indicate it may actually make people dream less.