Round One, before the wine
I took a wine and cheese pairing class last night, and learned a few things I’ll pass on to my millions of readers:
- All Cheese Rind is Edible: Even the wax and foil (!) ones. Cheese makers spend time crafting the rinds to add to the flavor. Not all of the rinds taste great, but they’re edible.
- Brie, and other soft cheeses, have less fat than hard cheeses: This is obvious in hindsight, but it’s because hard cheeses have less moisture, and therefore a higher percentage of fat.
- The mold in blue cheeses is a penicillium: This was interesting for me because I’m allergic to the antibiotic version of Penicillin — but I have no symptoms when eating blue cheese (or my current favorite, soft Italian gorgonzola).
- Non-pasteurized cheeses are legal in the US as long as they’re more than 60 days old: The libertarian in me tries not to imagine how much federal legislation exists around cheese.
- Lactose intolerance is typically cow-milk intolerance: Most people are just fine with goat or sheep’s milk, as the intolerance stands from some cow-specific enzymes.
- Traditional mozzarella (mozzarella di bufala) is made from water buffalo milk: I thought it was just a name, but it’s not. Apparently, there are some big water buffalo farms in California.
- Goats have the highest proportional milk production of any farm animal
They also handed out the following chart, which shows the composition of various milks, by percent weight (the totals don’t add to 100 because I removed the Minerals column, do the math yourself if you’re curious):
| Milk Type | Fat | Protein | Lactose | Water |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Human | 4.0 | 1.1 | 6.8 | 88 |
| Cow | 3.7 | 3.4 | 4.8 | 87 |
| Cow: Holstein/Friesian | 3.6 | 3.4 | 4.9 | 87 |
| Cow: Brown Swiss | 4.0 | 3.6 | 4.7 | 87 |
| Cow: Jersey | 5.2 | 3.9 | 4.9 | 85 |
| Cow: Zebu | 4.7 | 3.3 | 4.9 | 86 |
| Water Buffalo | 6.9 | 3.8 | 5.1 | 83 |
| Yak | 6.5 | 5.8 | 4.6 | 82 |
| Goat | 4.0 | 3.4 | 4.5 | 88 |
| Sheep | 7.5 | 6.0 | 4.8 | 80 |
| Camel | 2.9 | 3.9 | 5.4 | 87 |
| Reindeer | 17 | 11 | 2.8 | 68 |
| Horse | 1.2 | 2.0 | 6.3 | 90 |
| Fin Whale | 42 | 12 | 1.3 | 43 |
I’ve had Cow, Water Buffalo, Yak, Goat, and Sheep’s milk. I’m definitely curious about Reindeer and Fin Whale (how do they milk it?).
25 Comments
A post full of fun and interesting trivia. Thanks Fil for increasing my knowledge about cheeses.
I making this post as the “Post of the Day” for my blog.
http://postawards.blogspot.com/2007/04/post-of-day-fortescom.html
The mozzarella di bufala I had in Italy wasn’t from water buffalo. It came from all the buffalo farms along side of the road – just like cattle farms in the middle of Nebraska.
But what about HUMAN cheese? Tried that?
http://wikidumper.blogspot.com/2007/01/human-cheese.html
nice. i sent my vegan cousin a post asking if he would eat human cheese.
i doubt he would.
but probably for the smae reasons i as a vegetarian don’t eat fish eggs – but chicken eggs are ok. (no good one).
no limburger?
Chesse is Yummiful .
i like this.
wat?
Wow I learned a lot today,
Thank you!
Hey thanks for this!! I’ve always been under-educated about cheese so this chart really helps me personally! :)
Love It!
unfortunately this is FULL of inaccuracies.
blue cheese is not penicilium, thats bread mold.
mozzerella is not made with buffalo milk,
although you can buy products made with buffalo origins
it is a very small market.
you cannot eat aluminium foil, and it could do you harm!
if you try to bring unpasteurized cheese into the US
it will go into quarrentine for 90 days. eww.
you can buy it as artisinal in various markets produced locally.
Lufinn — unfortunately your comment is full of inaccuracies.
1. There are different kinds of pennicilium molds, of which the mold in blue cheese is one. Pennicilium is a genus, you see.
2. _Buffalo_ mozzarella is made from buffalo milk.
3. There are different kinds of foil. Gold leaf, for example, is used as an ornament in some kind of food. (Just to be clear, and I think this is necessary: gold leaf is gold foil.)
4. I’m not sure how your comment about unpasteurized cheese, even if accurate, contradicts what he said.
i am in love with this post.
Wondering about “milking whales” I often wonder (well, sometimes, anyway) about “Tiger’s milk” sold at health food stores. It CAN’T be too healthy for the milkers!
what are u people doing!!!
this sucks BIG TIME!!!
get real
1 more thing
this post sucks!!!
your post was alright but there should have been more facts
because i was doing a project at school and i had to go to other websites and i found it very hard
So next time do a better job…..
by the way,
Jayden what got into your butt!
The part about lactose in various milks is interesting.
This confirms my suspicion that many people with
dairy allergies are allergic to the PROTEIN in milk, such
as casein, used in woodworker’s GLUE!, rather than the
mild-mannered sugar that is lactose. And although I
could eat foil on cheese, I choose not to, just as I could
eat my shoes, but choose not to, unlike Charlie Chaplin.
i really like cheese it is really tasty
i really like cheese it is really tasty
i really like cheese it is really tasty
O.k. This was a litle bit wierd A litle bit fun and I lerned some things for the Oxford Valley elem. Science Fair. YEY! Jayden you could be a little more nicer people worked very hard to make this websit so don’t say it sucks. THIS SIT ROCKS!!!!!!!
This is the most supitest sit ever. who areis with me
I LOVE YOU THIS SIT SO MUCH IT IS MY FAV. SIT ABOUT CHEESE!!
For every one who read this that is good. For all you disney chanle watchers always watch Hannah Montana every night at 7:00PM.
I love you all! bye!
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