FACTS: Cheddar basics

By Erica

I like to think that I know a lot about cheese. We've been writing this blog for many months now, so I must have learned something. The other day, though, I was eating a fist sized chunk of cheddar cheese-- as I do--and I realized that I did not know what cheddar cheese was. I knew what it tasted like, but I did not know what made it that way. How embarrassing.

The essence of cheddar cheese comes from a process called, unsurprisingly, cheddaring. But before we get to that, a little history:

The first record of the existence of cheddar dates back to 1170 in England, although legend has it that the recipe was brought over from France by the Romans. It wasn't until 700 years later, though, that cheddar became the cheese that we know today.

Joseph Harding, "the father of cheddar cheese", or as I like to call him, the Gutenberg of Cheddar, standardized and sanitized the making of cheddar in the 1800s. He invented lots of equipment, including a machine that cut curds, that provided the cheese making processes with a defined structure.

(Side note: Wikipedia writes that "the 'Joseph Harding method' was the first modern system for cheddar production based upon scientific principles." I originally read that last phrase as "scientific method" and spent a while trying to figure out why cheese making would require an a priori hypothesis.)

Now we come to what makes cheddar cheddar. Cheddaring is when after being heated, the curds are kneaded with salt before the whey is drained. After this, the cheese can be shaped and aged for any amount of time (longer = sharper). Harding said cheddar is supposed to be firm, mellow, and with a hint of hazelnut. It is also often orange, but this comes from added coloring, usually from paprika oil and/or annatto, a natural red dye that comes from a scary tree pod (see picture below).



And there you have it. That's all I learned about cheddar.

...except for this fact that I couldn't fit in anywhere: For the 1964 World's Fair in New York, Wisconsin created a 34,951 pound hunk of cheddar cheese from the milk of 16,000 cows.

Sources:
-Just wikipedia. Sorry.

LINKS: Wisconsin is still #1!

By Erica


Wisconsin is still on top when it comes to cheese in the United States. The National Agriculture Statistics Service released new figures last week indicating that Wisconsin produced 2.65 billion pounds of cheese last year. This is more cheese than any other state.

We (after all these months living here, I think I can say "we" now) also made 477 million pounds of specialty cheese in 2009, a ten percent increase from the previous year. Looks like Cheese: A Journey is still in the right state!

Source: The Cap Times

LINKS: L. Lactis is official!

By Erica

The journey of L. Lactis has come to a triumphant close....

In a story that was picked up by The New York Times, a bill to make Lactococcus Lactis Wisconsin's state microbe was passed yesterday. L. Lactis is one of the strains of bacteria that helps turn milk into cheese.

The proposal had one dissenter, who Democratic Representative Gary Hebl said was "clearly lactose intolerant." The bill passed Thursday evening with a vote of 56 to 41.

I hope our readers celebrate with some cheese!

LINKS: State Microbe UPDATE

By Erica

A while back, we posted about the nomination of Lactococcus lactis, the bacteria that helps turn milk into cheese, for the title of State Microbe of Wisconsin.

The bill that will decide the fate of L. lactis goes up for a vote tomorrow (Thursday)!

We will keep you posted...

LINKS: The Root's 12 Cheeses of Christmas

By Kara

Got a great cheese tip recently (not to be confused with a great cheese dip): The Root recently posted a guide to buying cheese for holiday gatherings, with short descriptions of twelve delicious-sounded varieties of our obsession. Each description includes some background information about the cheese's origin, a tastefully-written (haha) note about its flavor, and suggestions for how to pair the cheese with wine, beer, bread, fruit, etc.

As far as I can tell, it looks like an excellent list. How could someone resist trying "Humboldt Fog," apparently "the most imaginative American-made cheese," which is creamy on the edges, flaky in the middle, and tastes like citrus and thyme?

It should also be noted that Wisconsin makes an appearance at the top of the list, with a Gruyere from Dodgeville, WI. I'm feeling the need to start a cheese wish-list...

LINKS: The Wisconsin State.... Microbe???

By Erica

A few days ago, the microbe Lactococcus lactis was nominated by the state Assembly (Assembly Bill 556) to become Wisconsin's State Microbe . Lactococcus latis, which has its own hilarious home page is used in the cheese making process to ferment milk sugar into lactic acid.

Apparently, Wisconsin lawmakers believe that adding L. latis as the state microbe would raise awareness about Wisconsin's cheese making industry. Demoncrat Representative Gary Hebl, who is one of the primary authors of Assembly Bill 556, said, "My first reaction was, 'Uh . . . why would we do that?'But then we started talking about it, and it made sense."

Don't believe me? Here's the article.