Say cheese!

Enid Donaldson-Mignotte

OVER THE centuries, cheese making has produced an incredible range of textures and flavours.

SOFT PASTE CHEESE

These cheeses have floury (unwashed) rinds and a very soft creamy centre. Brie and Camembert are perhaps the most famous. The goat cheese also fits in this category.

BLUE-VEINED CHEESE

These are cheeses injected with a penicillin mould which creates the characteristic blue veins. Unlike other cheeses, they ripen from the inside out and have to be perforated with special needles to aerate them and encourage the mould. In France, Roquefort is the prince of the blue cheeses while in England, Stilton is the best known.

PRESSED UNCOOKED CHEESE

These cheeses are bandaged with a cloth and placed in a mould for up to 24 hours. Most English cheeses are of this kind, though the degree of pressing and therefore the texture varies. Caerphilly, for instance, is a lightly pressed cheese while Cheddar is hard pressed.

CHEDDAR CHEESE

This is one of the most imitated of cheeses. A good cheddar cheese should look amber yellow and fresh without a greasy shine. It should feel firm but not hard.

CHESHIRE CHEESE

This is said to be the oldest of England cheeses and comes in red, white and blue. The red Cheshire, which has been artificially coloured, is milder than the white which ideally should be flaky and slightly salty, though this will depend on its age.

Other English cheeses include Double Glouchester, Caerphilly, Wensleydale, Lancashire and Stilton.

HARD-PRESSED COOKED CHEESE

To make these cheeses, the curds are cooked at 60^oC before being put into moulds and very firmly pressed. During the maturing period (up to six months), fermentation occurs internally, creating the holes which are characteristic of such cheeses as Gruyereand Emmenthal.

COTTAGE CHEESE

This is made from pasteurised skim milk.

CURD CHEESE

These cheeses have a more pronounced flavour and the curds are formed by the natural action of lactic acid in milk.

CREAM CHEESE

These are made from cream (single and double), rather than milk and as a result, have a higher fat content. Most cheeses however, have best flavour and texture if brought to room temperature about one hour before eating.

STILTON CHEESE

This type was named after the village on the Great North Road where it was sold to coach travellers. A whole stilton is nine inches high and eight inches across with a crinkly brown rind. The habit of spooning the cheese out of the centre and pouring port in to keep it moist, still persists.

DUNLOP CHEESE

This type, described as the national cheese of Scotland is a smooth creamy white cheese with a mild occasionally slightly sour flavour.

France is said to be responsible for 21 of the world's most savoury cheeses. Roquefort, Brie, Blue de Bresse, Camembert, Munster are a few of the better known cheeses.

Cheese comes in a milder variety of tastes shapes and textures in France than anywhere else in the world, and the quality is of international repute.

Switzerland­ best known of the Swiss cheeses are the hard, cooked varieties, the yellow amber Gruyere with its pock-marking of little holes and a distinct fruit flavour as well as ivory-coloured Emmenthal. Both are good melting and toasting cheeses and the basis of several traditional fondue recipes.

Holland ­ both the semi-hard Dutch cheeses, the firm yellow Gouda and the mild, red-rinded Edam are useful in recipes.

Italy ­ Italian cheese can be grouped as grating Tahle (eating) or cooking cheeses.

Italian Parmesan is salty and sharp, the world's only true seasoning cheese. Produced in a small section of Northern Italy under carefully controlled conditions only between April 15 to November 11.

Gorgonzola is a table cheese and ranks with the greatest veined cheeses. It is a Stracchino, meaning that it is made from tired cows. At one time many tired cows wintered at Gorgonzola near Milan.

Mozzarella, a pleasant, slightly sour cheese made from the milk of cows or water buffalo, is used often on Pizza. The Italians devoted a great deal of attention to the art of cheese making, for cheese is a basic ingredient in cooking in all its regions.

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