Author Topic: Artisan Cheese Makers Of Old  (Read 2958 times)

Cheese Head

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Artisan Cheese Makers Of Old
« on: February 14, 2009, 11:56:12 PM »
The discussion in this thread raises good questions that I thought needed their own Topic, thus this new thread.

The Artisan Cheese Makers before us in ancient Egypt/Middle East and back in Europe in middle ages did not concurrently make three different mold type cheeses like I am currently stupidly trying to do.

In fact from what I have read they made Rocquefort in town of Rocquefort and Stilton in town of Stilton and Limburger in town of Limburg.

There is probably good reason for that as they did not have modern sanitary chemicals or pure modern manufactured cultures. In fact their molds were probably results of Darwin type evolution in that town/region.

Anyway, you probably all new this already, for me the light bulb just went on ::).

Captain Caprine

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Re: Artisan Cheese Makers Of Old
« Reply #1 on: February 16, 2009, 04:26:49 AM »
Hi John,
Your point is well made and in fact cheese evolved not only because of the resident flora in the town/location where it was made but also the geographical limitations of the site of manufacture.  The Swiss were following there cows up the mountain grazing on new and higher pastures as the season progressed and the snow melted.  The resulting cheese, therefore, had to be transported down the mountain which gave advantages to large durable wheels that could handle the transport.  Can you imagine trying to bring a couple hundred crotins down a mountain pass to market as apposed  to a wheel or two of Swiss cheese?  Most of the soft cheeses of France were manufactured close to large population centers which allowed for soft and small wheels which could be distributed and eaten in a short time frame.  Ah the geography of cheese.
CC

Cheese Head

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Re: Artisan Cheese Makers Of Old
« Reply #2 on: February 16, 2009, 07:38:29 PM »
CC, in the review of the Cheese Nun DVD I just watched, she identified over 200 subspecies of Geotrichum candidum across France all resulting in slight variations of different narural rind tasting cheeses.

stuartjc

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Re: Artisan Cheese Makers Of Old
« Reply #3 on: February 20, 2009, 01:28:22 AM »

In fact from what I have read they made Rocquefort in town of Rocquefort and Stilton in town of Stilton and Limburger in town of Limburg.



Actually... Stilton *cannot* be made in the town it is named after:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stilton_(cheese)

And Limburger is named after a Dutchy:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duchy_of_Limburg

Gotta love Wikipedia :)

Cheese Head

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Re: Artisan Cheese Makers Of Old
« Reply #4 on: February 20, 2009, 03:58:50 AM »
Stilton, you are right, the cheese was made famous when sold in town/village of Stilton, but not made there.

On Limburger, I don't see anything on that page on Cheese, and this wiki page say it was originates from town of Limburg on border of what is now Belgium, NL & Germany.

Anyway, I think the idea is still good ;D.

stuartjc

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Re: Artisan Cheese Makers Of Old
« Reply #5 on: February 20, 2009, 03:19:13 PM »
Stilton, you are right, the cheese was made famous when sold in town/village of Stilton, but not made there.

On Limburger, I don't see anything on that page on Cheese, and this wiki page say it was originates from town of Limburg on border of what is now Belgium, NL & Germany.

Anyway, I think the idea is still good ;D.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limburger_(cheese)

So there :-P

Cheese Head

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Re: Artisan Cheese Makers Of Old
« Reply #6 on: February 20, 2009, 10:44:28 PM »
???? . . . you've copied the same link I posted . . . took me a couple minutes, got it, wiki site says "Limburger cheese originated in Limburg" and I assumed Limburg was a town or village, you are correct when you click on word Limburg it says is actually a region, or rather Duchy.

Should never assume, but I do believe most cheeses are named after towns of regions where they originated, Brie, Cheddar, Cheshire, Edam, Gouda etc and part of the reason they are so different is the process and part is the ingredients and as shown on The Cheese Nun show, cultures in one area are different to those in another area.

saycheese

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Re: Artisan Cheese Makers Of Old
« Reply #7 on: February 20, 2009, 11:47:13 PM »
What's this Cheese Nun Show?

stuartjc

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Re: Artisan Cheese Makers Of Old
« Reply #8 on: February 20, 2009, 11:52:42 PM »

Should never assume, but I do believe most cheeses are named after towns of regions where they originated, Brie, Cheddar, Cheshire, Edam, Gouda etc and part of the reason they are so different is the process and part is the ingredients and as shown on The Cheese Nun show, cultures in one area are different to those in another area.

This is indeed my understanding - Limburg and Stilton are two of the *very* rare exceptions :)

Cheese Head

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Re: Artisan Cheese Makers Of Old
« Reply #9 on: February 21, 2009, 12:02:20 AM »
Saycheese, it's a DVD of a US PBS 1 hour Documentary Show I posted a review of in our Library.