Cheese, Glorious Cheese!

Cheese – We put it in or on all kinds of things. We have it in our mac & cheese. We put it on hamburgers and call them cheeseburgers.  We melt it and pour it over chips and call them nachos. It goes with ham, turkey, and beef. At the ball park it pairs with chili on top of French fries.  It’s in lasagna, pizza, fondue, and au gratin potatoes. (You might call them cheesy potatoes for short.) It goes with crackers, with wine, and of course, covering broccoli! It’s even good all by itself.

It is estimated that there are almost 2000 kinds of cheeses around the world. A Google search told me that on average, every American eats about 42lbs of cheese each year. That’s a lot of cheese! Cheese can be white, yellow, orange, or even white with blues swirls. It can be hard and brittle like parmesan,  solid but sliceable like cheddar, smooth and silky like American cheese (the kind that are slices covered in plastic wrap) or even soft and squishy like the French cheese like brie.

Have you ever wondered how cheese is made? All cheese start with one thing. Some kind of milk. Many come from cows, but they can also be made from goats, buffalo, and other animals. Each animal milk gives the cheese a special flavor.

1. The process starts with adding a “starter culture” (a type of good bacteria) to acidify and flavor the milk.

2. Next an enzyme called rennet is added to the milk to help it clump together. This separates it into two parts: curds (the protein solids) and whey (the leftover liquid).

3. The curds are cut drained and pressed to remove even more whey. The whey is often used to make protein powder.

4. The curds are shaped in molds and sent away to age. This adds flavor and texture.

5. If the cheese is eaten right away it is called squeaker cheese because it makes a squeaking sound when you bite it. Otherwise it might age for 30, 60, 0r even 90 days.

There are many popular cheeses in America. Cheddar is one of my favorites on hamburgers. Swiss cheese has a nutty taste and lots of funny holes. I also really like pepper jack, and Colby cheese. There are even stinky cheeses like limburger, but Papaw doesn’t really like those.

What is your favorite cheese? If you ever get to visit a cheese shop, be sure to try as many as you can. Well I hope you liked finding out about cheese. Here are a couple videos if you want to watch people making cheese.

 Love Papaw.