Cheese

French legislation

An administrative decree of the December 30th 1988 defines the term “cheese” as being reserved in fermented product or not, obtained by coagulation of milk, the cream or their mixture, follow-up of draining .

The characteristics concerning the dry extract, the content of fat contents and the origin of milk, must be reproduced on labelling.

fresh cheeses (soft white cheeses, Swiss, slightly salted cream-cheese…) in water (70 to 82% are rich), and do not undergo refining.
the minimum of dry matter, for cheeses other than fresh, is fixed at 23%.

It is authorized to associate a qualifier with the word cheese: one cream-coloured triple contain at least fat contents 75%; one white coffee in contains of 60 with less than 75%; one full fat cheese , of 50 with less than 60%; one reduced cheese (and without addition of sugar) of 20 with less than 30%; one low-fat cheese , less than 20%.

The farm cheeses are exclusively manufactured with the milk produced in the exploitation from where they come. Mention not specified fat contents is then allowed.

Mention with believed milk must be indicated when the cheese is obtained with milk whose temperature was not carried beyond 60°

Since the June 20th 1992 (decree of February 19th, 1991), all the cheeses produced with the farm, refined, must comprise the indication of a deadline of optimal use (DLUO), and fresh cheeses a deadline of consumption (DLC).

Etymology

The term “cheese” derives from former French “forming” by Métathèse (inversion of two letters to facilitate the pronunciation). It also comes from Latin “formed” who indicates a cheese mould. The term “forming”, like Italian formaggio , is resulting from Latin formaticum who means: “what is made in a form”; one finds of it the trace in “fourme”, name regional of certain cheese specialities. The words German Käse , English cheese , Portuguese queijo and Spanish queso , like the Italian cacio , come from caseus , which generated itself Caséine. The Irish word cáis and the Welsh word caws are related with caseus . It is considered that the word group of which these last three form part comes from the root Indo-European *kwat- . This root wants to say " to surir, fermenter"

Various kinds of cheeses

Manufacture (details)

The coagulation or curdling of the Lait is obtained by use of Présure and Calcium chloride, or by spontaneous acidification. This process is followed of a salting, then possibly of a period of Fermentation.

One can also coagulate milk with lemon juice, or even with vinegar…

The complete process of manufacture of cheeses proceeds in six principal stages:

curdling,
rompage (optional) one cuts curd more quickly to separate it from the Lactosérum ,
draining,
moulding,
salting,
refining.

Several factors influence the taste and the savor of cheese: season, climate, precise micro-organisms, quality of the grounds and the pastures, species of the dairy animals (cows, goats and ewe), techniques of manufacture, know-how of Refining.

The first manufacturing plant of cheese was open in Suisse the February 3rd 1815.

Traditionally, the France produces between 350 and 400 different cheeses, that is to say according to the proverb, “a cheese per day of the year”. But currently, it manufactures more than 1000 different cheeses. The Great Britain produces more than 700 varieties of cheese.

A farm cheese is said of a cheese manufactured to the farm by the farmer only with the milk of its own herd. The dairy cheese is said of a cheese manufactured in dairy with the milk of several exploitations.

In France, 42 cheeses are protected by a name from controlled origin (AOC).

Quotations

A meal without cheese is beautiful with which it misses an eye. ( the Physiology of the taste , Brillat-Savarin)
How do you want to control a country where it exists 246 varieties of cheese? (Charles de Gaulle in Words of the General , Ernest Nice, 1962)
A country which counts nearly 360 cheeses cannot die. A country which counts nearly 360 cheeses cannot die. (Winston Churchill in June 1940)
In Spain, the politician Javier Mazariegos, mayor of Villalón de Campos, projected and built the “Museum of cheese”, in this locality of the north of Espagne.

Phrases

“Between pear and cheese”: at the end to dine it, when the remarks become lighter. The origin of this expression goes back to the Middle Ages. The habit wanted that one finishes a meal of dishes spiced by a fresh fruit and a cheese.
“to make a whole cheese of It”: to give a disproportionate importance to a business.

Conservation of cheeses at the house

The best way of preserving a cheese and of perfecting its refining, is to preserve it in a fresh cellar, sinks, ventilated and slightly wet.

If one does not have such a place, one can completely preserve cheeses in the drawer at vegetables with bottom of the Réfrigérateur, but by taking some precautions:

To leave cheeses in their packing of origin, but to wrap them with food film, so that they do not absorb the odors.

the grease of milk contained in cheeses is one of the best absorbents of the odors. It is besides why one never should leave the Beurre without protection in a refrigerator.
One can place, in the cheese drawer, a branch of Thym or bay-tree, which will mask a little the odor of strong cheeses.

Before packing them, it is always necessary to take time to wipe cheeses with firm or half-closed paste with an absorbing paper, in order to slow down the development of the mould.

It is always possible to freeze a cheese with firm paste, but without exceeding three months.

One calls Cheese cover, a plate provided with a transparent lid, to isolate cheeses from the remainder of food contained in a refrigerator.

The cheese and health

Rich person in Calcium, the cheeses are also rich in saturated fatty-acids which have a harmful effect on the rate of Cholestérol, however some studies seem to show that the consumption of cheeses to fermented milk would have a hypocholestérolémiant effect.

World production and consumption

The cheese is one of the principal agricultural products on a world level. According to FAO, the worldwide production rose with more than 18 million tons in 2004. It is more than the cumulated annual production of seeds of Café, sheets of The, broad beans of cocoa and Tabac. The largest world cheese producers are the United States (for approximately 30% of the total), followed by Germany and France.

The United States is the first world cheese producer country, the essence of their production being intended for the interior market. Between the exporting cheese countries, Italy, France and Germany (which is however the first in quantity). Among the first ten exporters, only Ireland, New Zealand, the Netherlands and Australia has a production of cheese mainly directed towards export: respectively 95,90,72 and 65% of their cheese-making production is exported. Only 30% of the French production are exported.

Germany is the first cheese importing country. The United Kingdom and Italy are, respectively, the second and third importers.

Greece is, with an average consumption of 27,3 kg per capita, the first consumer country cheese in the world (the Feta represents the three-quarters of this consumption). France is the second cheese consumer, with 24 kg per capita. The Emmental (used mainly as ingredient of kitchen) and the Camembert cheese are the two cheeses most consumed in France. Italy is the third consumer country with 22,9 kg per capita. In the United States, the cheese consumption is in rapid growth and has almost triplet between 1970 and 2003. Consumption rose there, in 2003, to 14,1 kg per capita. The favorite cheese of the Americans is the Mozzarella, it represents approximately a third of consumption, mainly owing to the fact that it is one of the principal ingredients of the pizza pie.

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