Looking for some interesting cheese facts? Here’s some cheesy tidbits they never taught us in school.
Cheese Facts
National Cheese Lover’s Day is just around the corner (January 20th), and we’ve started our countdown! I don’t know about you, but I feel like as a cheese lover I should know everything there is to know about our beloved ingredient. I’ve share the history of cheese before, but is knowing the history of something enough? Never. So to add a bit more to your knowledge about cheese, here are a few more tidbits you may not know about cheese!
Expand your cheese knowledge, and check out these facts:
Cheese
Cheese is a living and breathing thing, so it needs air. Cheese paper is specifically made to maintain partial air and moisture, but waxed or parchment paper will also do the trick.
Store soft cheeses covered in waxed paper, and be sure to press the paper right against the runny part of the cheese (known as the “paste”). This allows moisture to evaporate, but maintains the humidity in the cheese. Then place the wrapped cheese in a loose plastic bag or in a plastic wrap.
Fresh cheeses such as ricotta, burrata, and cottage cheese should not have much of an aroma—if they have a strong smell, they are likely spoiled. These should be kept for a maximum of 7-10 days.
A TUROPHILE is a connoisseur of cheese.
Most cheese is made from cow, sheep, or goat’s milk, but there is a farm in Sweden that makes moose cheese!
Hard cheeses are pressed during the cheese-making process to remove as much moisture as possible. For this reason they keep much longer than soft cheeses.
As cheese sits, its moisture collects at the bottom. Soft cheeses should be turned over every few days to distribute the moisture and oil content.
While you can safely cut mold off the outside of a hard cheese, any fresh cheese with mold on it should be thrown out.
Cheese making (and eating!) is believe to date back as far as 8000 B.C.
As soon as a cheese wheel is cut, the aging process stops, so the cut cheese does not get better with age. Buy only what you will consume in a few days for the freshest-tasting cheese.
Strong-smelling cheese is often compared to stinky feet, and in fact the same bacteria is to blame for both.. er… conditions.
An ammonia smell does not necessarily mean the cheese is spoiled—ammonia is a by-product of the cheese-aging process. Taste the cheese to be sure it is still fresh.
Calling someone “The Big Cheese” originally referred to the wealthiest, who cold afford full wheels of cheese.
Did you learn something new today? Let us know below in the comments! 🙂
Want to put your cheese knowledge to good use?
Try these 9 Mouthwatering Homemade Cheese Recipes Even YOU Can Make!
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