Author Topic: 200107 Article - Modern Cheese Cultures & Coagulants  (Read 2906 times)

Cheese Head

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200107 Article - Modern Cheese Cultures & Coagulants
« on: December 25, 2008, 03:07:03 PM »
Not sure if this comes under Green Footprint.

Downloaded the attached article from July 2001, which shows where technology and "modern" cheese cultures had come to. Must be even more "advanced" by now, great for long life cheese, not so great for artisans or health I think as more refined and less complex bacterias.

Tea

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Re: 200107 Article - Modern Cheese Cultures & Coagulants
« Reply #1 on: December 25, 2008, 09:42:48 PM »
I guess this is one of the major reasons why some cheese will never be able to be recreated by us with any level of accuracy, and also why you can buy a range of commercial cheeses, that all tend to have the same texture, smells and flavours.

The boutique producers are going to be protecting their cultures like a hawk, and the commercial one have all come from a lack of proper production time and "sameness" of cultures.

Which begs the question whether the "boutique" style of cheese will eventually came back into it's own as people get tired of eating "plastic cheese"?

Which also begs the question whether cheese cultures can mature with age, similar to a sour dough starter?

chilipepper

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Re: 200107 Article - Modern Cheese Cultures & Coagulants
« Reply #2 on: December 27, 2008, 05:04:16 AM »
Hmmm... very interesting post!  I too tend to agree with Tea.  The sameness and lack of character in store bought cheese really provided the catalyst for me to take on cheesemaking.  This, I feel, really substantiates the relevance of this topic to this particular category.  If it were not for this over-commercialization of the cheese industry and their quest for the 'standardized' cheese, I don't think many of us would be here trying to create something different. 

Fact being, we are all maybe a little over fanatical with regards to cheese but quite honestly any cheese we make is far better and has more character infused than any of the mainstream big box cheeses. 

There are thousands of great cheeses out there but they are all created much like ours in that they have individual character.  If you are like me these are the cheeses we still buy and support the cheesemaker.  If for no other reason I think we can chalk it up to research and development! :D

The brewing industry has experiences the same trend towards what they call 'drinkablility'.  What that really means is they want something almost totally void of flavor, with moderate alcohol content that is overcarbonated and can only vaguely be tolerated ice cold.  So drink it fast and repeat...

Hence the reason I brew my own also!  ;D

OK.. stepping off soap box now...  8)

stuartjc

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Re: 200107 Article - Modern Cheese Cultures & Coagulants
« Reply #3 on: February 09, 2009, 08:49:42 PM »
hey, chilipepper... if the beer you're drinking is bland and tasteless, you're committing the same crime as those who think Velveeta is cheese  :D

Try something from Rogue, or Left Hand, or Terrapin, or Unibrou, or Southern Tier, or Dogfish Head, or.....  :)