Author Topic: Gruyere and Beaufort unique taste  (Read 6407 times)

Sailor Con Queso

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Re: Gruyere and Beaufort unique taste
« Reply #15 on: February 23, 2013, 04:35:26 PM »
Almost all traditional cheeses have evolved and changed drastically over time. Stilton for example did not start out as a blue cheese at all. It began as a stirred curd farmer's cheese NOT even made in Stilton, England. The name became popular because it was being sold in Stilton, not made there. Then it became a cream cheese and evolved into a blue, probably because of contamination with local strains of blue mold. "Traditional" Stilton is no longer legally made with raw milk.

Alpkäserei

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Re: Gruyere and Beaufort unique taste
« Reply #16 on: February 23, 2013, 06:23:43 PM »
Cheeses very often develop to local conditions, and as much as anything else to the abilities and knowledge of the locals producing them.

Now, when it comes to almost all cheeses having changed drastically over time there are a few exceptions. Berner Alpkäse, for example, is thought to be unchanged since the Middle Ages. It is identical to a cheese described and standardized in a chronicle from the year 1528 (which today is used as the 'foundation' year of the current AOC cheese.) Sbrinz claims to be virtually unchanged since it ancestor (The Cheese of the Helveti) was mentioned by Pliny in the mid 1st century AD, though what I have read seems to adequately describe about any of the Alpine hard cheeses.