Cheese Me Up -Post #10

My love for cheese knows no bounds, it sounds dramatic but it's true. I love how many varieties, flavors, and textures there are in the cheese world; there is a cheese for every person's preferences. A major concern in the ancient world was finding ways to preserve or extend the life of various ingredients. With wheat, it was turning it into bread, with grapes turning them into wine, and with milk, it was turning it into cheese. Although the process of cheese making began in the Middle East, the process slowly made its way to other regions around the world. Firebaugh mentions how amazing it is to remember that all cheeses begin with one simple ingredient, milk. Cheese can be made from any sort of milk, typically milk from an animal but plant milks such as soy can also be used and are becoming more popular with the rise of alternative diets. It's interesting how different types of animals produce milk with unique flavor profiles and miles with different fat and protein contents so that the cheeses they produce can be incredibly diverse in flavor and texture. It's also interesting to note how animals diets can greatly impact the flavor profile of the cheese produced with it, with free-grazing animals' milk (and thus cheese) having much more variety in flavor than their grain-fed counterparts. I also didn't realize how intensive and diverse the cheese making process can be. Slight changes in the cheese making process completely changes the type of cheese you get. Back at home in the US my family has something we call 'cold night' where we eat various breads and crackers, cured meats, and lots of cheeses, in Italy cheese can be served in the same way as a primi.

Something surprising that people may not realize is that although Italians put cheese on their pasta, they put significantly less on than we do in the US and the cheese is often put on in the kitchen rather than at the table. Often there is no cheese provided at the table and if you ask for it you may get a shocked look and a harsh 'no' especially if your dish contains fish or is spicy as they don't want the cheese to disrupt these flavors. 

 I'll take cheese any way I can get it, whether as a primi, on top of pasta or stuffed into a tomato; cheese always has a place on my table. 

Ciao for now!

Veni. Vidi. Mangia.