Blue cheese is a general classification of cheese that has a culture of Penicillium prints added so that the finished product is visible or veined entirely with blue, or blue-gray mushrooms and carries a different odor , either from it or a variety of specially cultivated bacteria. Some blue cheeses are injected with spores before curds are formed, and others have spores mixed with curd after forming. Blue cheese is usually aged in a temperature-controlled environment like a cave. Blue cheese can be eaten by itself or can spread, crumble or melt into or above the food.
The hallmark of blue cheese tends to be sharp and salty. This food odor is caused by fungi and the type of bacteria that is encouraged to grow in cheese: for example, the bacterium Brevibacterium linen is responsible for the odors of many blue cheeses, as well as the smell of the feet and other human body odors.
Video Blue cheese
Histori
Blue cheese is believed to have been discovered accidentally when the cheese is stored in natural temperature and moisture-controlled cave, which is a favorable environment for a variety of non-hazardous fungi. It was moist in the cave so mold would be formed. According to legend, Roquefort was found when a young man, eating a lunch of bread and sheep's milk cheese, left his food in a nearby cave after seeing a beautiful girl in the distance. When he returned many months later, mushrooms ( Penicillium roqueforti ) had turned the cheese into Roquefort.
Gorgonzola is one of the oldest known blue cheeses, which has been created around 879 AD, although it is said that it did not actually contain blue veins until about the 11th century. Stilton is a relatively new addition to be popular around the early 1700s. Many varieties of later-derived blue cheese, such as the 20th century Danablu and Cambozola, are an attempt to meet the demand for expensive Roquefort-style cheese due to cost or politics.
Maps Blue cheese
Nutritional information
In the United States, 100 grams of generic blue cheese contains the following nutritional value according to the US Department of Agriculture:
- Calories: 353
- Fat: 28,74 grams
- Carbohydrates: 2.34 grams
- Fiber: 0 grams
- Protein: 21.40 grams
- Vitamin B12: 1.15 mg (50% of recommended daily intake)
Production
Creation
Similarly for other cheese varieties, the blue cheese making process consists of six standard steps, as well as further additions that give this blue-veined cheese its unique properties. The first step is the acidification where starter culture is added to milk to convert lactose into lactic acid, thus changing the acidity of milk and converting it from liquid to solid. The next step is coagulation, where rennet, a mixture of rennin and other ingredients found in the calf lining of the calf are added to further strengthen the milk. After this, the thick curd is cut usually with a knife to encourage the release of liquid or whey. The smaller the curd is cut, the thicker and harder the cheese is produced. Salt is then added to provide flavor as well as act as a preservative so that cheese is not damaging. Furthermore, the cheese is given its shape and then pressed with weight if necessary to remove excess fluid. The last step is to finalize the cheese by reaping it. Temperature and humidity levels in the room where cheese is aged are monitored to ensure cheese does not damage or lose its optimum taste and texture.
The blue cheese experiences these steps with additional touches that give a unique look of the blue stripes found throughout the section. The blue veins are the result of the addition of Penicillium roqueforti and Penicillium glaucum for the cheesemaking process, often introduced after the curd has been put into the container to be dried and shaped into full cheese wheels. Although Penicillium roqueforti and Penicillium glaucum are found naturally, today's cheese producers use commercial cultures of Penicillium roqueforti which have been frozen dry, a form of dehydration in where water is evaporated from the freezing state without transition through the liquid state, to maintain its value and activated by the addition of water. After the addition of mold to the cheese, the next important step is the stabbing, that is when the blue cheese wheel is pierced to create a small hole to allow air to enter and feed the mushroom culture, thus encouraging the formation of blue blood vessels..
Typical flavors and aromas of blue cheese emerge from methyl ketone (including 2-pentanone, 2-heptanone, and 2-nonanone) which is a metabolic product of Penicillium roqueforti . This compound is not formed in other types of cheese fermented by bacterial acidosis alone.
European Union
In the EU, many blue cheeses, such as Cabrales, Danablu, Gorgonzola, Roquefort, and Blue Stilton, carry a designation of protected origin, meaning they can bear names only if they are made in certain areas. Similarly, each country has their own protection such as the French Establishment d'Origine ContrÃÆ''lÃÆ' Â © e and Italian Denominazione in Origine Protetta. The nameless blue cheese from the protected name is simply named "blue cheese".
Physical-chemical Properties
Structure
The main structure of blue cheese comes from casein aggregation. In milk, casein is not aggregate because of the outer layer of particles, called "hairy coating." The hairy layer consists of? -casein, which is a polypeptide string extending out of the casein casein center. The hairy coating of casein casein reduces the entropy of the system because it inhibits micelles, preventing it from spreading. The curd shape, however, due to the function of the enzyme, rennet, plays in removing the hairy coating in casein micelles. Rennet is an enzyme that cuts the "squares" of the casein micelles, thereby eliminating the strains that occur when the hairy layer is entangled. Casein micelles can then gather together when they collide with each other, forming the curd which can then be made into blue cheese.
Print growth
Penicillium roqueforti and Penicillium glaucum are both fungi requiring oxygen to grow. Therefore, the initial fermentation of cheese is done by lactic acid bacteria. Lactic acid bacteria, however, are killed by low pH and secondary fermenters, Penicillium roqueforti , taking over and breaking lactic acid, maintaining pH in the old cheese above 6.0. When the pH rises again from the loss of lactic acid, the enzymes in the mold responsible for lipolysis and proteolysis are more active and can continue to ferment cheese as they are optimal at pH 6.0.
Penicillium roqueforti creates a distinctive blue vein in blue cheese after the old curd is pierced, forming an air tunnel in the cheese. When given oxygen, the fungus can grow along the surface of the dry air interface. In pressing the cheese, the curd is not packed tightly to allow air gap between them. After piercing, mushrooms can also grow between the curds.
See also
- List of blue cheese
References
External links
- How to make blue cheese at home
- What makes blue cheese blue? from The Straight Dope
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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