Starter cultures

Cow’s, goat’s, sheep's milk, and also buffalo's milk (as in the case of mozzarella), cream (can be used in the manufacture of mascarpone and other cheeses) and serum (ricotta is prepared from it) is used for the manufacture of cheese. Depending on the type of cheese milk may be raw or pasteurized, whole, skimmed, with low or high fat content.

Starter cultures, used in the preparation of cheese, can be different. Most often it is rennet extract (used in the preparation of mozzarella, suluguni, halloumi, yalsberga, Poshehonsky and other cheeses), citric or wine acid, and lactic acid bacteria. In the process of maturing a special mold cultures and microorganisms can be added in the cheese. And some types of cheese are processed by absolutely exotic ways: for example, French cheese Mimolet is populated by a special kind of ticks and worms-nematodes, which gnaw passages in the cheese and promote its proper aging during the ripening.

Types of cheese

Talking about cheese, we can adduce several classifications of this product: according to the type of milk, according to the type of starter cultures, on the texture of the finished cheese, age and the aging process. But the most common in the culinary literature is the classification, in which cheeses are divided into the following types.

Fresh cheese

It does not take time to aging. It has the soft and moist texture. Taste – from delicate creamy to spicy. Well-known cottage cheese, ricotta, mozzarella, mascarpone, feta, cream cheese (cream-cheese), fromage blanc, cottage, Adygei and others refer to fresh cheeses.

Soft cheeses

Most often this type of cheese is ripen in moldy crust. The most famous and popular soft cheeses – brie, camembert and limburger. Crust mold is edible in most cases. Cheese can have a taste from light oil to spicy-hot with strong odor.

Semi-hard cheese

They have a denser texture than soft cheese, but you can just grate them on a coarse grater. Before ripening these cheeses are coated by wax or paraffin wax shell, which allows to retain more moisture. Time of ripening of semi-hard cheeses – from 1 to 6 months. This type includes Edam, Fontina, Tilsit cheese, Сheddar, Russian, Poshehonsky, Provolone and others.

Hard cheese

It has a dry and firm texture than semi-hard one. Excellent it is cut into slices and grated on a grater. Hard cheeses include Emmentaler, Gruyere, Gouda, Yalsberg and others.

Grater cheese

The most famous representatives of this type – parmesan (Parmigiano reggiano), pecorino romano and grana padano. Ripening time – up to 2 years. These cheeses have a hard crumbly texture and often prior to use they are rubbed on a fine grater.

Cheese with mold (blue cheeses)

There are many varieties of blue cheese. The most famous of them – Dorblue, Gorgonzola, Roquefort, Danish Blue Cheese, Grand bavareze, bergader. Blue cheese in texture depends on the variety and may be soft and uniform or, alternatively, hard and crumbly. In the preparation of this cheese it is inoculated with a spore of noble mold, then they make air channels in a cheese head that allow mold to grow in the cheese during ripening.