Who’d have thought that a third of all US cheese production takes the form of Mozzarella? And that 1.2% is stinky Muenster cheese? I also had no idea, although I’ve just come back from a few blissful days around Notre Dame, that in the 19th arrondissement in Paris four Breton ewes are „eco-grazing“ and fertilizing a half-acre patch of land. I read this in the newest issue of Culture, the word on cheese magazine.
Furthermore, there are reports from Iceland (yes, about cheese!), about the newly deregulated indie cheese scene in Switzerland as well as many recipes and portraits of cheesemakers and their wares. Also very interesting, especially for a salt addict like me: America’s Test Kitchen, Christopher Cook’s Illustrated Kimball’s TV show, did a tasting of fresh goat cheese with regular and reduced amounts of salt. And, hooray, tasters clearly preferred the regularly salted cheeses! That is about 1200mg per 100g cheese and also means that the cheese melts more smoothly and retains water much better. On the next page I came accross a short note on cheese made from red deer’s milk in New Zealand.
Somehow the farmer managed to extract enough (very rich) milk from his does (who are not naturally inclined to stand still for some human to milk them) to make a batch a cheese which will be aged for six months and auctioned off for charity in the fall. I’m not sure what to think about this – at least in Germany we think of deer (et al) as wild animals… but to taste a piece of that cheese would be exciting, I admit. First though I have to renew my Culture subscription.
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