Wine And Cheese Baskets

A popular gift during the holiday season or at exclusive events is the wine and cheese basket. The combination is as old as time, and wins hearts and favors with ease. It indicates a sophisticated palate and a superior appreciation for the good things of life.

Selecting the right wine and cheese is as much a matter of personal preference as of the area from which they are produced. Usually, the amalgam from a particular location works best and saves you much time and trouble while giving. However, when it comes to experimenting with the two, there are myriad styles to adventure with.

Made with as much care and artistry as wine, cheese is a product of careful craft and ingenuity. Prepared from cow, sheep, goat or yak's milk, cheese can be fresh, poached, or hard; with a washed, flourished or natural rind, and melted or cured. Cheese can even be spiced up or enfolded in leaves for new aromas to sink in.

Farm cheeses or industrial cheeses come in various flavors and blends that easily match the complexity and varieties of wine produced in the world. It is the painstakingly produced cheese from exclusive farms that are most popular (and expensive).

Red wine usually teams up with most cheeses. Fresh cream cheeses are heady with most white wines and some delicate red wines. Red and white wine work well with goat's milk cheese. Camembert, Brie and other such ripening soft cheeses thrive with fine white wines or fruity reds. Soft and semi-hard cheeses blend well with champagne or sweet sherry. Washed rind cheese integrates best with that region's red wines or stronger whites, while lush semi-aged ones resonate with rosé or local wines.

Cheeses like Parmesan, Cheddar or other hard, aged cheeses brilliantly highlight red wines, sweet dessert wines and port. Blue cheeses favor vintage port, as well as strong reds and some whites.

Budgetary, seasonal and personal preferences can lead you to the right choice in cheese baskets. Standard wine and cheese baskets combine spaces for the two items, besides including wine glasses, light crockery, napkins, a cutting board and a cheese knife. Special designer baskets include the perfect wine and cheese combo, crackers and light snacks, exclusive linen and wine accessories.

Everybody is entitled to some fun and relaxation. Whether it's earthy, lively or velvety, savor the wine, nibble the cheese and pamper your taste buds. That's the idea of a wine and cheese basket - that, and to raise the pleasure element that much higher!

by Richard Romando

Mozzarella cheese

Mozzarella seems to be one cheese we make often, and there are many ways to make it. Old World traditional mozzarella takes longer to make, but has a higher yield per gallon of milk.

Quick mozzarella is simpler and faster to make. The cheese freezes very well and is used in many recipes besides pizza. The following recipes will make a very mild mozzarella. You'll need to add a lipase powder if you like mozzarella with a stronger flavor.

Lipase powders are available from cheesemaking supply companies and are usually added at the rate of 1/8 teaspoon per two gallons of milk. Be sure to mix in water to dissolve powder before adding to milk.

Mozzarella is a fun cheese to make. It doesn't require lots of expensive equipment. You don't need a cheese press to make it, and it can be eaten fresh. Children especially enjoy helping with this cheese. I use liquid rennet because it can make a bigger variety of cheese and is cheaper to use than the tablets. Both calf or vegetable rennet work equally well.

Mozzarella is heat treated in the final stages to give it the desired stretch. This can be done either in the microwave or on the stove. Because mozzarella requires a high acidic level in the cheese before it can get stretchy, we add citric acid powder to speed this process along. The Old World traditional mozzarella gets its acidity by adding a culture and allowing it to ripen over a two-hour or longer period.

All cheese should be made in a stainless steel or unchipped enamel pot. Never use aluminum, as this can leach into the cheese. Use only canning or non-iodized kosher salt. Salt with iodine will give your cheese a slight yellowish-green tint. It's best to use a sink of hot water to raise or lower the temperature of the cheese. You can add more hot water as needed without worrying about scorching the milk.

Citric acid powder quickly raises the acidity so that the cheese will stretch. This is used for the quick method, but traditional mozzarella gets its acidity slowly by adding a culture and allowing it to ripen. Citric acid powder is available at cheesemaking supply companies, and pharmacists will sometimes order it. Candy and cake decorating supply companies often have it, as citric acid is used to make hard rock candy.

Thermophilic culture can be heated to 110 degrees or more. It is used to make many Italian-type cheeses such as mozzarella. It is an old-fashioned culture, sometimes called traditional or regular thermophilic and must be recultured before using. The other and more convenient type is a DVI thermophilic culture. DVI stands for direct vat inoculant and can be added directly to the warmed milk.

Old World traditional mozzarella cheese

It takes a little practice to know the exact time to begin the stretching process, but this mozzarella is well worth the effort. It has a higher yield per gallon of milk than the mozzarella made with citric acid powder. However, the citric acid assures you that the stretch will be ready when you are.

The old-fashioned mozzarella takes a bit longer, and the acidic level is reached over time with the aid of a thermophilic culture, so it can be a little tricky to know when the cheese is ready to stretch. Continued practice will help you get better at making this cheese.

2 gallons milk
1/8 teaspoon DVI thermophilic
culture
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon fresh rennet -- amount
depends on age and freshness
1/2 cup cool water


Warm the milk to 90 [degrees] F and add the thermophilic culture. Dilute the rennet into cool water and stir into the milk for 15 seconds. Allow the curds to coagulate for 45 minutes to one hour and 15 minutes. Curd is ready to cut when it breaks cleanly over your finger and whey fills the depression. Cut curd gently into one-inch pieces and let rest for 20 minutes.

Increase the temperature of the curds about 2 degrees every five minutes, stirring often to keep the curds from matting together. Heat until the mixture reaches 100 [degrees] F. This is best done in a sink of hot water. When the curds have reached 100 [degrees] F, hold at this temperature by adding hot water to the sink as necessary and begin timing. You don't need to drain off the whey and curds. Let it set in the sink, keeping warm to acidify for about 2-1/2 hours.

Test a small handful of curds in very hot water (150 [degrees] to 155 [degrees] F). If they aren't ready to stretch, leave them to set a little longer. Determining the point when the curds are ready to stretch is a matter of getting a feel for how the cheese is supposed to be. When right, the curds melt together and stretch beautifully. Let it set in the sink, keeping warm to acidify for about 2-1/2 hours. At this stage, you can drain the curds, refrigerate and finish the stretching another day by using hot water.

Another method is to remove the curds from the whey, place the whey back on the stove in a double boiler and heat the whey back to 150 [degrees] to 155 [degrees] F. Place the curds, which by now have knitted themselves into one mass, back into the hot whey. Work quickly. Use of a large slotted spoon and a large regular spoon will help in the stretching process. Pull and stretch like taffy, shape into a ball and place in a brine solution for 10 to 30 minutes, depending on how salty you like your cheese.

The brine solution is two pounds of kosher salt per gallon of water, or eight ounces of salt per quart. The amount of salt can be adjusted to suit your taste. This cheese is great eaten fresh with a slice of tomato, a basil leaf and olive oil drizzled over the cheese.

Cheddar

The most widely purchased and eaten cheese in the world. Cheddar cheeses were originally made in England, however today they are manufactured in many countries all over the world. Fully cured Cheddar is a hard, natural cheese. It is shaped like a drum, 15 inches in diameter, with natural rind bound in cloth. Normally, the color of Cheddar ranges from white to pale yellow. Some Cheddars, however, have a color added, giving the cheese a yellow-orange color. Cheddar is always made from cow's milk and has a slightly crumbly texture if properly cured.

If the cheese is too young, the texture is smooth. Cheddar gets a sharper taste the longer it matures. It is generally matured between 9 and 24 months. The important thing in purchasing Cheddar, is to consider the age of the cheese. Milk is heated to 86 degrees F and inoculated with a lactic starter culture. After an hour rennet is added. When the curd is firm, it is ground down to marble-sized bits which are heated to 100 degrees F. The whey is discarded and it is sliced into slabs.

The curd is pressed overnight and stands for 4 days in a cool atmosphere. Unlike other well known cheeses, Cheddar's name is not protected so it has been used and abused by many producers around the world.

Country: England

Milk: cow milk

Texture: semi-hard

Fat content: 48 %

Cheesecake

When Marcus Porcius Cato made the first cheesecake back the heyday of the Greek Empire, he probably did not realize that his simple dairy recipe would be one of the world’s favorite desserts, even after several centuries. Indeed, the cheesecake has not lost its appeal and continues to evolve to meet the changing tastes of its aficionados.

For such a delicious cake, the cheesecake is actually rather simple. It is made of sugar, eggs, and cheese (usually cream cheese but ricotta is also often used in Italy), and other ingredients such as cookies, or cookie crusts, and cream. The more modern cheesecakes are topped with all kinds of tropical fruits like kiwi, mango, and strawberries, and are decorated with vanilla and chocolate.

Different people from different parts of the world have added their own twists to the traditional cheesecake, and each version is just as delicious as the next. The cottage cheese-based, world-famous New York cheesecake, for example, is loved the world over for its heavy use of cream and excellent consistency. Equally famous are the Italian-style cheesecakes that use delectable ricotta cheese and vanilla extract for extra flavor.

Almost all other food-loving countries have their own versions of cheesecakes as well. The Germans use quark cheese, Greece uses homegrown Mizithra cheese and Mascarpone cream, and Brazilians add in guava marmalade. Can you guess which country likes maple syrup on their cheesecake? You guessed it right – Canada.

The cheesecake has also found a place in Asia, where it has evolved into flan cakes, famous in Tokyo and in Manila. These flans are usually made of starch and eggs. The vegetarians have also whipped up their own cheesecake – they use tofu instead of cream cheese, and surprisingly, their version tastes just as good.

By Elizabeth Morgan

A Quick Guide to Cheese

Cheese. It's a wonderfully versatile food. We use it to top pizzas, to sprinkle on our spaghetti, to spread on crackers. And without cheese, a grilled cheese sandwich would be nothing but buttered toast.

Cheese is produced in many parts of the world, two of the most well known countries being France and Italy. There are many varieties of cheese, but they are all made in a similar fashion. Milk and cream consist of two parts, the solid milk fats, and the whey. Cheese is produced by causing the fats to come together, forming curds. This is done by either adding acid or various bacteria to the milk or cream, causing it to curdle.

The curds are then processed in different ways to form different cheeses. The type of cheese made depends on the type of milk used, the percentage of fats in the milk, and the process used to make the cheese. Most cheeses come from cow's milk, but cheeses are also made from goat's milk, sheep's milk, and real mozzerella cheese is made from water buffalo milk. Cheese is generally categorized by it's texture, hard, semi-firm, semi-soft, or fresh.

Hard cheeses are generally aged for 12 months or more. They usually have a sharp salty taste, and are excellent for grating over pasta or salads. Parmesan, Asiago, and Romano are examples of hard cheeses.

Semi-hard cheeses may or may not be aged. In general, the longer the cheese ages, the sharper the flavor will be. A taleggio, which only ages for about 6 weeks will have a milder flavor than a cheddar that has aged for months. Semi-firm cheeses are good melting cheeses, or good to eat on their own.

Semi-soft cheeses like Camembert are good cheeses for spreading on crackers or crusty bread.

Fresh cheeses range from a mild cream cheese, to a rich creamy marscapone. These cheeses can be eaten spread on crackers, but are also commonly used for cooking desserts. Marscapone is an essential ingredient in tiramisu.

While talking about cheese, we can't forget to mention blue cheese, which is a cheese, with blue-green veins of mold, which gives the cheese a sharp flavor and aroma. Blue cheeses include gorgonzola, roquefort, and stilton.

If you are going to be serving cheese as part of a cheese course, hard, semi-firm, and semi-soft cheeses shoud be allowed to stand at room temperature for an hour before serving. Fresh cheeses, should be served chilled. Choose three or four types of cheese, either cheeses with similar characteristics and flavors, or contrasting cheeses. If you like, you can serve the cheese with crackers or crusty bread. Also some people serve their cheeses with a variety of fruits, apples, pears, figs, and seedless grapes would be good choices, as well as shelled walnuts.

Whether you like using cheese for cooking, or eating on it's own, cheese delivers it's own goodness and flavor.

By Tim Sousa

A Brief History Of Cheesecake To 1545

Cheese


Ever since the beginning of time, man has been striving to make the perfect cheesecake. Today, there are literally thousands of cheesecake recipes. Everyone has their favorite. But when did this craze really begin? How did we get from the early days of cheesecake to the famous New York Cheesecake that we enjoy today?

Cheesecake was a very popular dish in Ancient Greece. But when the Roman's conquered Greece, the secret fell into the hands of the Romans and nothing's been the same since. Actually, the Roman version of cheesecake was much different from the Greek form of the delicious wonder. Roman cheesecake became known as placenta. It was sometimes baked on a pastry base and other times it was enclosed in a pastry case. The Roman cheesecake was actually often used as an offering to the Gods.

In the first century BC, a gentleman by the name of Marcus Porcius Cato, came up with a wonderful recipe for cheesecake. He lived from 234 to 139 BC. He was a Roman politician. See, even politicians can have good taste in food. This recipe of his was the only work of his that was ever preserved, which is quite ironic since his main focus was in politics. This recipe that he came up with was often given as a temple offering.

It wasn't until 230 AD that the first "modern" recipe for cheesecake was recorded. This was a recipe that was recorded by Athenaeus, a Greek writer. By today's standards, this recipe, which reads as follows, would be considered laughable.

"Take cheese and pound it till smooth and pasty; put cheese in a brazen sieve; add honey and spring wheat flour. Heat in one mass, cool, and serve."

That is the actual recipe as it was discovered by archeologists. Quite crude in comparison to the elaborate cheesecake recipes that we have today.

It wasn't until 1000 AD that cheesecake was finally brought to Great Britain and Western Europe. This was done by Roman conquering armies. Shortly after this time cheesecake slowly spread throughout the area. The number of different recipes also started to increase and began to look a little more like the ones we're used to today.

In 1545 the first cookbook containing a cheesecake recipe was printed. The book actually focused more on other types of foods as it was a traditional type of cookbook. But inside was one recipe for cheesecake printed below.

To make a tarte of Cheese - Take harde Chese and cutte it in slyces,and pare it, than laye it in fayre water, or in swete mylke, the space of three houres, then take it up and breake it in a morter tyll it be small, than drawe it up thorowe a strainer with the yolkes of syxe egges, and season it wyth suger and swete butter, and so bake it.

You will notice the English is quite bad. This was how the actual recipe was printed. Obviously the English language itself has come a long way in 500 years.

Since that time, cheesecake recipes have become quite elaborate and quite good. New York Cheesecake is probably one of the most popular.

Now that you know how cheesecake came to be, why not run out and get yourself a good slice. You deserve it, after all.


By Andrew Krause

Cheddar Cheese

Cheddar cheese

Cheese

Cheddar cheese is a pale yellow, sharp-tasting cheese originally made in the English village of Cheddar, in Somerset. Cheddar-style Ireland, Canada, the United States, South Africa, New Zealand, Australia (where it is often called ´´Tasty cheese´´) and Sweden. Much of this cheese is mass-produced and quality varies enormously. The strong flavor develops over time, with a taste diverse enough that food packaging will usually indicate a strength ("mild" to "strong/sharp/mature"), or the maturation period.

Cheddar has perhaps always been the most popular cheese in England. A pipe roll of King Henry II records the purchase of 10,420 pounds (avoirdupois pounds and troy pounds did not exist then, probably tower pounds or about 3650 kg) at a farthing per pound (£3 per tonne).

Cheddaring refers to an additional step in the production of cheddar-style cheese where, after heating, the curd is cut into cubes to drain the whey, then stacked and turned.

Cheddar cheese has become too widely produced to have a ´protected designated origin´. However, the European Union recognises ´West Country Farmhouse Cheddar´ as a protected designation of origin. To meet this standard the cheese must be made in the traditional manner using local ingredients in four designated counties of south-west England.

Like many cheeses, the colour of cheddar is often modified by the use of food colourings. Annatto, extracted from the tropical achiote tree, is frequently used to give cheddar an orange colour. The origins of this practice are clouded, but the three leading theories appear to be to allow the cheese to have a consistent colour from batch to batch, to assist the purchaser in identifying the type of cheese when it is unlabelled, or to identify the cheese´s region of origin.

In the United States, cheddar cheese comes in several varieties, including mild, medium, sharp, New York Style, Colby/Longhorn, white, and Vermont. New York Style Cheddar cheese is a particularly sharp cheddar cheese, sometimes with a hint of smoke. It is usually slightly softer than milder cheddar cheese. Colby/Longhorn Cheddar cheese has a mild to medium flavor. The curds are still distinct, often marbled in color, varying from cream to yellow. Cheddar that has not been coloured is frequently labelled as "white cheddar" or "Vermont cheddar", regardless of whether it was produced in the state of Vermont.

Cheddar is one of several products used by the United States Department of Agriculture to track the dairy industry; reports are issued weekly detailing prices and production quantities. The state of Wisconsin produces the most cheddar in the United States; other centers of production include upstate New York, Vermont, and Tillamook, Oregon.

Cheddar is also a good source of vitamin B12 and therefore recommendable for vegetarians. A slice of vegetarian cheddar cheese (40g) contains about 0.5 µg of vitamin B12

Cheese Making

Cheese Making

Cheese :

The value of cheese as a food has not been fully appreciated.

A point in favor of cheese as an economical food is that it does not require cooking before being served. It may, however, be grated and served in a variety of ways with cooked foods. Considering its high nourishing qualities cheeseis a more economical food than meats of any kind. This is especially true in times of meat shortage when prices soar. Consequently, a wider use of cheese will not only relieve meat shortages, but will effect a considerable saving for the consumer. Larger quantities of this valuable food should be produced and used. It can be made on most farms at comparatively low cost.

APPARATUS FOR CHEESEMAKING

The apparatus and equipment needed for farm cheese making can be supplied largely from the average farm house utensils. Following is the list: Milk vessel - A metal wash tub, a wash boiler, or any large vessel in which the milk may be heated and which can be set on the stove, will do. Thermometer - A thermometer must be used so that the temperature may be regulated. Dipper - A dipper is necessary to stir the milk and curd. Knife - A long knife with which to cut the curd is desirable.

Mold -Lard presses or fruit presses may be used for cheese molds. A sheet of galvanized iron or heavy tin, 22 by 10 inches, can be cut and soldered or riveted into the shape of a cylinder 7 inches in diameter and 10 inches high, which can be used as a cheese mold. Cheese cloth -The cheese should be protected with a bandage. This bandage should be made of cheese cloth or flour sacking or unbleached linen beforehand so that it will be ready to use.

It must be made to fit the inside of the mold. Rennet tablets - Rennet tablets are used to coagulate the milk. They may be purchased from any dairy supply house. Check the Yellow Pages. Cheese press - Fruit presses or lard presses will serve for cheese presses. A home made press can be made by thrusting one end of a long plank under a cleat or support so that the free end may serve as a weight to press down against the cheese which is placed under the plank near its stationary end.

METHOD OF MAKING CHEESE

For five pounds of cheese, about 50 pounds of milk will be required. Fresh, sweet, morning milk should be used. It should be put in a wash boiler or similar vessel, set on the stove and heated to 90 degrees Fahrenheit. A thermometer should be used so that the temperature may be read and regulated exactly. While the milk is warming up to 90 degrees, dissolve one No. 2 Hansen's rennet tablet in half a glass of cold water. When the milk is exactly 90 degrees, add the rennet solution.

Stir gently for two or three minutes. Regulate the heat to keep the milk at 90 degrees until the curd is cut. Record the exact minute of adding the rennet solution. By dipping into the milk with a teaspoon at intervals of every half minute, determine when the milk first begins to coagulate. Record the exact minute that coagulation first appears. Setting usually takes 30 -45 minutes. The curd should be cut into half-inch cubes. To make these cubes it will be necessary to cut the curd lengthwise and crosswise into strips, half an inch thick, and into half-inch layers from top to bottom.

A knife long enough to reach the bottom of the vessel may be used for making the lengthwise and crosswise cuts. Raise the temperature at the rate of about two degrees every four or five minutes until it reaches 114 degrees F. The curd should be stirred gently with a dipper during the heating. It should be held at 114 degrees for an hour. The curd should then be run into a strainer cloth to drain off the whey. After about ten minutes of draining, it should be put into a dish pan and broken into small pieces with the hands.

Four ounces of salt should then be thoroughly mixed through the curd. The salt should be put on in three applications, each two or three minutes apart. When the salt is dissolved the curd is ready to press. A mold such as that described under the list of apparatus must be used for pressing the cheese. The grooved board, previously prepared, should be covered with a cloth and the mold placed on it. Line the mold with the cheese bandage. It is now ready to receive the curd. Place a circular piece of cloth and then the board disk on top of the curd and apply pressure with a fruit or lard press, or with a home-made press.

The pressure should be applied gradually or the cheese will not mold into a solid cake. If a press is not at hand, one can be made by thrusting one end of a 12-foot plank under a support which should be about 16 to 20 inches above the ground. The support can be made by nailing to the wall a short piece of 2 by 4. The mold should then be placed about 2 feet from the wall and the plank placed in position across its top. The free end of the plank will cause a downward pressure on the cheese.

It will be necessary to place a block of wood about 4 inches square on top of the cheese and to regulate the height of the mold so that the plank will be level when pressing on the cheese. Increased pressure should be applied by attaching a weight to the extreme end of the plank. As the pressure should be gradually increased, about 10 pounds should be added to the weight each two or three minutes until at the end of 15 minutes 75 pounds of pressure has been applied.

Let the cheese remain in the press for three or four hours, then remove it, straighten out the cloth bandage and smooth down with hot water. Replace the cheese in the mold and press over night. Take the cheese out of the mold, apply paraffin or grease to the outside and place it in the cellar or suspend it in the well where it will ripen. It should be ripened at a temperature of about 60 degrees F. and should be rubbed with the hands every day or two to prevent the growth of mold.

Sometimes, because the salt has not properly penetrated the curd, the finished cheese may puff or bloat when a few days old. Salt rubbed on the surface with the finger tips will correct this tendency. Application should be repeated the following day. The cheese will be ready to eat in about four weeks.

by Leon the Milkman

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