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About Italian Cheeseaholic
About Italian Cheeseaholic
Cheeseaholic
G. K. Chesterton
About – Italian Cheeseaholic
About Me
My name is Aidan. I was born in East London and grew up in Romford, a small town in the Northeast suburbs of London. After nishing
secondary school, I studied Chemistry at UCL in London. My intentions were to study as well as I could and then get a job working at the
University. However, God’s plans were di erent! I felt like He was calling me to go and live and work abroad. I applied to IFES, an organization
involved in student ministry, and was accepted. After spending some time in Austria, I realised that it was my calling to get involved in the
Romanian speaking world and so I have now spent quite a bit of time living and working in rst Romania and currently Moldova.
When I was growing up, I was always very health conscientious. I played a lot of sport and faithfully went for a run around the local park
every Saturday and Sunday morning. Alongside this, I did my best to avoid junk food and eat as healthily as I could. I guess this is where my
passion and interest in Italian food came from. It seemed like the cuisine with the perfect combination of being both tasty and healthy at the
same time! I particularly enjoyed Saturday lunchtimes, where we always ate in our family pizza with vegetables. On the occasions when I had
the chance, I tried doing my own pasta dishes, although never more than using prepared sauces (or sometimes, I have to admit, entirely
prepared meals!). The best, though, was Tuesday evenings, where sometimes we would get to eat spaghetti bolognese with Parmesan cheese!
There are some adverts and links on my site. This is not an attempt to get rich, but rather my thinking is that if I could earn some money via
it, I would then invest it in helping people and the ministry in Moldova that I am involved in. We will see what God’s plan will be!
Mozzarella is undoubtedly one of the most famous Italian cheeses. There can’t be many people who are unfamiliar with the sight of glistening
white balls of it or at least the taste of it on pizzas or in salads. However, you’ve probably never stopped to think about where it comes from
or how it’s made. When we think about the origin of cheese, I guess cows, sheep or possibly goats come to mind, but did you know that
authentic Italian mozzarella is actually made from bu alo milk? This Italian bu alo mozzarella (otherwise known as ‘Mozzarella di latte di
bufala’) is notoriously hard to reproduce due to the ideal conditions and many years of experience in Italy, but one English farm is having a go
at producing English bu alo mozzarella.
It is unclear historically how bu alo came to be living in Italy, but what is for sure is that today the bu alo population there is large (for
example in 2013 it was reported as 402,659). As a result, Italy is one of the world’s largest producers of bu alo milk. One of the many dairy
products that is produced from this bu alo milk is mozzarella. Mozzarella can also be produced of course from other types of milk, but due to
the fact that bu aloes’ milk is thicker and creamier, more cheese can be produced from less milk thus making it more economical, not to
mention producing a cheese with higher nutritional properties.
The bu alo milk is rst warmed together with whey left over from the preceding batch of mozzarella that has been made. This whey helps to
increase the number of bacteria in the milk. Rennet, a complex of enzymes that helps milk coagulate, is then added. The result of all this is
that in time the curds in the milk separate from the whey.
Next, the whey is drained o and the curds are cut and stirred and then left until the pH reaches between 5.2 and 5.5. At this pH, the curds
have formed together in such a way as to make it possible for them to be easily manipulated by hand.
The following stage is for the curds (which are by now cheese like) to be immersed in hot water (or whey). Usually, before this, they are cut
into balls. They are left until they oat, a sign that most of the liquid has drained out of them.
Finally, these balls need to be kneaded by machine or hand until they reach the right texture. They are then cut and shaped as desired to
produce the nal mozzarella. Often it is placed in brine to preserve it, but in any case, it is best consumed fresh, either on the day of
production or in the next few days.
This whole process is called, ‘Pasta Filata’ (Italian for ‘spun paste’) and as already mentioned is also used in the manufacture of other Italian
cheeses. The cutting of curds used in the production method is also the origin of the name mozzarella as ‘mozza’ means ‘to cut’ and ‘rella’ is
an ending that gives the sense of making something smaller. In other words, mozzarella is a little cut o the whole batch of cheese!
There are also regions of Italy where mozzarella is made using sheep’s milk and sometimes called, “mozzarellapecorella”. More recently,
some mozzarella has been produced using goat’s milk in order to o er an alternative for those who have problems digesting cows’ milk.
A few other terms that are good to know are ‘mozzarella a umicata’ which is mozzarella that has been smoked. Bocconcini are small balls of
mozzarella and burrata, which is a ball of mozzarella with a cream lling.
The avor, as well as the look of mozzarella, can be in uenced by the diet of the animal from which the milk came from. At Laverstoke, they
have been feeding their bu aloes on a special diet of a mixture of 31 herbs, grasses and clovers thus trying to instill in their English bu alo
mozzarella a distinctive taste. Who knows, maybe one day it will rival the Italian variety for the crown of best mozzarella in the world.
Even to those of us who aren’t fans of Italian food, the names of Italian Cheeses (at least a few of them!) are probably familiar. Mozzarella,
Gorgonzola, and Parmesan are famous Italian cheeses, known by many people throughout the world. However, these three are just the tip of
the iceberg in terms of Italian cheeses. Italy is the fourth largest cheese producing country in the world and there are estimates that Italy
actually has over 450 varieties of cheese.
In this article, we will see very brie y the origins of cheese production in Italy followed by some examples of Italian cheeses belonging to
di erent categories of cheese.
Basic cheese is made by curdling milk using enzymes from animals’ stomachs. Animals’ stomachs themselves were used as storage and
transportation containers for animal products. So more than likely, at some point in history people realized that milk being contained in
animals’ stomachs was starting to turn into cheese.
Over time cheese production developed. People began to devise methods to extract rennet (the enzyme-containing substance in animal
stomachs that curdles milk) and use it to make cheese. Gradually, di erent types of cheese were produced using variations on the basic
method. As time went by people also discovered that by allowing the cheese to mature in di erent ways, also resulted in di erent types of
cheese.
In any case, there are di erent ideas and claims about the origin and early development of cheese, but one thing is for sure, that by the time
of the Roman Empire, cheese making was a well-spread art!
More so than this, cheese being a popular Roman food led to the discovery throughout Italy of many techniques that could be used to
produce all sorts of di erent cheeses. Over the centuries these cheese making processes have been re ned and added to, resulting in the
modern-day diversity of types of cheeses available in Italy.
A variation on mozzarella is burrata. This is another Italian soft cheese, made in exactly the same way as mozzarella, except that it is lled
with butter or cream. This then explains the name as in Italian burrata means ‘buttered’.
A nal cheese worth mentioning in this category is Bocconcini. This cheese is in essence simply small balls of mozzarella. In Italian, its name
simply means ‘small mouthfuls’.
In any case, a cheese which is most certainly harder than mozzarella, but not hard compared to some other cheeses, is Gorgonzola. It is an
Italian blue cheese, which means that it is matured in such a way as to allow mold to develop, thus giving the cheese a blue element to its
color and a very distinctive avor. The name Gorgonzola comes from a town near Milan, which claims to be the origin of this cheese.
Finally, we reach the hard cheese category, the king of which is Parmigiano-Reggiano. Quite possible you have never heard of this cheese, but
actually, you probably have, just under a di erent name. Parmigiano-Reggiano is the true name for Parmesan cheese. In fact, according to
European Law, the name Parmesan can only be used to describe Parmigiano-Reggiano, whereas in other parts of the world Parmesan is often
the name for various di erent cheese that are approximations of Parmigiano-Reggiano. This is a very hard cheese, so much so that although
it can be eaten on its own, it is usually added to pasta, soups or salads by grating. It has a strong avor, so is a seasoning for these other
foods. The name refers to Parma and Reggio Emilia, which are the two main areas of Italy in which it is produced.
Asiago, a semi-hard cheese, which is good for grating in its aged form and in sandwiches when fresh.
Caciocavallo is a medium-soft cheese produced in a manner similar to mozzarella except that the cheese is formed into balls and tied in twos
after production. These pairs are then hung to dry and mature. This is possibly the origin of the name which translates as “horse cheese”, as
the cheeses are saddled up and left to age. The cheese itself has a sharp taste.
Provolone is another cheese produced using the same method as mozzarella, except that the nal product is semi-hard due to the cheese
being left to age. For provolone dolce (sweet provolone) the aging process is two to three months and for provolone piccante (sharp or spicy
provolone) the process is at least four months. This cheese has a claim to fame as it is the cheese used in the USA in Philadelphia
Cheesesteak sandwiches.
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