How To Use Dairy Products Correctly: Part Two – Cheese
The Basic Preparation Food: Dairy Products.
HARD AND SOFT CHEESES
Cheese is made from milk which has been naturally or artificially soured. The former method is brought about by standing the milk in a warm place and allowing natural, friendly bacteria to turn the milk’s natural sugars into lactic acid. The latter method is effected by adding an enzyme, usually in to form of rennet.
Colouring and salt are frequently added too. The whey is then allowed to drain off and the curds are pressed into moulds where they are kept until ripened or cured. Some cheeses are subjected to pressure; soft cheeses are not. Curds are ripened or cured by various means. The method, the quality of the milk, the breed of cow, sheep or other animal and the quality of its pasture and the type of bacteria all govern the final result.
Some local conditions are unique and those areas produce cheeses that are not successfully reproduced elsewhere: for example Gruyere and Camembert, although factories do try. They even have some success, as most of the world’s Cheddar cheese now comes from the USA and Canada.
The constituent parts of cheese are roughly: 33% fat, 33% protein and 33% water with salt, colouring, sugar etc making up the other 1%. These proportions do vary from area to area as some manufacturers use full cream milk, others skimmed milk and yet others add extra cream. Yet others add extra sugar, although most do not. All cheeses have a high calcium content and can be considered ‘concentrated milk’ and stored in the same way.
Many people say that cheese most not be kept in a fridge and although storing in water, as for milk, is not a viable option, a cool larder is definitely ideal. Try the traditional method of hanging it up in cheesecloth in a cool, airy place. If it is hot, moisten the muslin cloth with water to which a little vinegar has been added.
Cheese is often served in Europe with a salad or/and bread and is often presented after or instead of the dessert. Hard cheese can be nigh-on impossible for children to digest and grating it first will make it more palatable to them. Having been grated the cheese can be sprinkled on vegetable or fish soups or sauces; added to egg, pasta, rice and oatmeal dishes; put on baked potatoes or pastry; toasted on bread or put in salads and sandwiches.
How To Cook Cheese: A not well known fact is that a lot of people find cooked cheese practically indigestible and the reason lies in its make-up. This is why: cooked starch can be digested by the saliva in the mouth, but other foods must pass to the stomach or intestines for this process to be completed. They are, however, broken up in the mouth. Digestion of protein begins in the stomach and is completed in the small intestine, while fat is not rendered soluble until it reaches the small intestine.
Cheese has a high fat and protein content, but when melted, the fat frequently covers the protein and stops the digestive juices reaching it in the stomach. This results in, its digestion is delayed until the fat has been absorbed by the intestines. Cheese can be made more digestible in the following way:
1] Combining it with some starchy food, because the starch will absorb the fat, not allowing it to cover the protein.
2] Adding seasoning. Cayenne Pepper or mustard will irritate the intestinal lining, causing extra digestive juices to be released.
3] Cooking rapidly|quickly|briskly| at fairly high temperatures. This has the effect of preventing the protein from becoming tough and stringy and so, harder to digest. You could also add the cheese late to sauces.
4] Adding an alkali: for example, a generous pinch of Bicarbonate of Soda per 3 ozs (75g) will help neutralize the fatty acids and make the proteins easier to digest.
