| Cheese. It's a wonderfully versatile food. We | | | | Semi-firm cheeses are good melting cheeses, |
| use it to top pizzas, to sprinkle on our | | | | or good to eat on their own.Semi-soft cheeses |
| spaghetti, to spread on crackers. And without | | | | like Camembert are good cheeses for spreading |
| cheese, a grilled cheese sandwich would be | | | | on crackers or crusty bread.Fresh cheeses |
| nothing but buttered toast.Cheese is produced | | | | range from a mild cream cheese, to a rich |
| in many parts of the world, two of the most | | | | creamy marscapone. These cheeses can be eaten |
| well known countries being France and Italy. | | | | spread on crackers, but are also commonly |
| There are many varieties of cheese, but they | | | | used for cooking desserts. Marscapone is an |
| are all made in a similar fashion. Milk and | | | | essential ingredient in tiramisu.While |
| cream consist of two parts, the solid milk | | | | talking about cheese, we can't forget to |
| fats, and the whey. Cheese is produced by | | | | mention blue cheese, which is a cheese, with |
| causing the fats to come together, forming | | | | blue-green veins of mold, which gives the |
| curds. This is done by either adding acid or | | | | cheese a sharp flavor and aroma. Blue cheeses |
| various bacteria to the milk or cream, | | | | include gorgonzola, roquefort, and stilton.If |
| causing it to curdle. The curds are then | | | | you are going to be serving cheese as part of |
| processed in different ways to form different | | | | a cheese course, hard, semi-firm, and |
| cheeses. The type of cheese made depends on | | | | semi-soft cheeses shoud be allowed to stand |
| the type of milk used, the percentage of fats | | | | at room temperature for an hour before |
| in the milk, and the process used to make the | | | | serving. Fresh cheeses, should be served |
| cheese. Most cheeses come from cow's milk, | | | | chilled. Choose three or four types of |
| but cheeses are also made from goat's milk, | | | | cheese, either cheeses with similar |
| sheep's milk, and real mozzerella cheese is | | | | characteristics and flavors, or contrasting |
| made from water buffalo milk. Cheese is | | | | cheeses. If you like, you can serve the |
| generally categorized by it's texture, hard, | | | | cheese with crackers or crusty bread. Also |
| semi-firm, semi-soft, or fresh.Hard cheeses | | | | some people serve their cheeses with a |
| are generally aged for 12 months or more. | | | | variety of fruits, apples, pears, figs, and |
| They usually have a sharp salty taste, and | | | | seedless grapes would be good choices, as |
| are excellent for grating over pasta or | | | | well as shelled walnuts.Whether you like |
| salads. Parmesan, Asiago, and Romano are | | | | using cheese for cooking, or eating on it's |
| examples of hard cheeses.Semi-hard cheeses | | | | own, cheese delivers it's own goodness and |
| may or may not be aged. In general, the | | | | flavor.Tim Sousa is the webmaster for Classy |
| longer the cheese ages, the sharper the | | | | Cooking. An online cooking resource with |
| flavor will be. A taleggio, which only ages | | | | dozens of recipes, cooking tips, and other |
| for about 6 weeks will have a milder flavor | | | | helpful information. |
| than a cheddar that has aged for months. | | | | |