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Good Cheese
Cheese is found in almost every country. Its origins are as a method of preserving milk when refrigeration was not invented. You can buy all kinds of cheese in most countries, from plain mouse-trap to gourmet heaven. Cheese can be made from any milk, including cow's, ewe's and goat's milk. The milk can be pasteurised or raw, skimmed or full fat and colouring may be added. Different cheeses are fermented at different temperatures and levels of acidity. France thinks it is the centre of the cheese world. The French do make some good cheeses and even export some of them. Camembert and Brie are typical examples of French cheese. You can buy these cheeses made from raw or pasteurised milk. Pasteurised milk produces a cheese with a distinct ammonia smell to it that is not present if raw, unpasteurised milk is used. Most French people seem never to have even heard about non-French cheeses. You do need to be careful though, because cheese made from raw milk can be harmful to babies, pregnant women and older people. I was brought up on English cheeses, usually Lancashire, a crumbly, salty cheese. There are many other English cheeses, but if you want the best taste then forget the pre-wrapped blocks from the supermarket and look for a speciality shop where they will cut you a piece from the whole cheese. The shrink wrapped cheese is fine for cooking with, nut is hardly gourmet class. Lancashire cheese has a very short fridge life and the taste changes after 2 or 3 days so it is best to just buy what you will use within that time. For making toasted sandwiches Lancashire is the best cheese, partly because it has a very high melting temperature. Red Leicester is another old favourite. This absolutely MUST be cut from a whole cheese. Look for cracks in the cheese and a nutty taste. red Leicester keeps well and melts easily for cooking. There is another cheese made in Leicestershire, England; Stilton. Stilton has blue veins running through it and you can buy pre-wrapped stilton in most supermarkets in Britain and Ireland. The different grades of Stilton are rather vague. Some shops sell mature, extra mature and vintage Stilton. You can develop a taste for the best Stilton very quickly and you can never go back to supermarket standard cheese. The longer the cheese is kept the more expensive it will be, but the extra cost is small compared to the improvement in taste that comes with the more mature cheese. The best Stilton cheese is a deep cream colour. with lots of blue veins running all the way through it. It should have a rind at least a quarter of an inch thick. Thin rinds are signs of a younger cheese. Most people do not eat the rind on Stilton, but it is edible. If you do develop a taste for Vintage Stilton then you should also drink it with a 20 year old port. Good Stilton and good Port complement each other in an amazing way and the end result can be a taste explosion that goes all the way up your sinuses to your eyes! The description is not an exaggeration, but based on wonderful experience in 2000 with a 1991 Noval LB Port and a vintage Stilton. The 1991 Noval is way beyond my posket now, but would probably cause taste sensations out of the top of my head.
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I haven't been able to try many good cheeses, due to cost, but I do love cheddar, swiss, feta, and mozzarella. Maybe some day I'll learn to make my own cheese and make many varieties.
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