Blog #6 Say Formaggio!

So in class, we had a course on cheese. It was absolutely fascinating to see cheese being made. I've been to a dairy farm before and learned all of the nutritious facts behind cheese and milk, but I've never actually seen cheese get made. I didn't even know the process. It was super cool. We added rennet to fresh milk and it turned into this jelly-like consistency. It was such a weird experience. Then we cut the curds to release the whey until it was the size of rice grains. Honestly, throughout the entire process, I kept thinking of Little Miss Muffet and her curds and whey. I should probably say now, the curds are the gelatinous and solid bits and pieces and the whey is the liquid.

Then after we separated the curds and whey we took the curds out and placed them in molds. There were large cylindrical molds and even a small star-shaped one. Then we reboiled the whey so that we could make ricotta cheese. I found it fascinating that ricotta is basically recooked and it is safer for lactose intolerant people to eat because it is made from the whey which already doesn't have lactate, the sugar lactose intolerant people can't digest. As a slightly lactose intolerant person this is pretty awesome! We actually got to eat the cheese we made and it was very subtle. It kinda reminded me of less flavored cottage cheese. We didn't see it, but the Cheesemaking expert had salted part of the cheese and she said if she had had the time she would have salted the other half. It might have made the cheese more flavorful, but it was still pretty good. In the salting process, you can age the cheese or smoke it. It's fascinating all of the ways and variations you can make cheese from one product- milk. 

Honestly being in Italy I was expecting a lot more cheese. Every Christmas and Thanksgiving we as an Italian family on my father's side always have prosciutto and cheese cuts. My mom absolutely loves cheese, she'll eat handfuls of shredded cheese. I personally really love sharp cheese, but since being in Italy cheese is not nearly as popular as I had thought. Yes, they do have the cold cuts and cheese platters, but they don't put cheese on pasta because it masks the flavors. This is new to me because I tend to drown my spaghetti in parmesan.  I find it interesting that the cheeses are eaten with jams and honey making a sweet and savory combo, but my personal favorite combination is cheese and grapes. Something I learned from watching Ratatouille.

Recently I had gone on a trip to Greece and I found cheese to be much more prevalent there. There was a lot of feta cheese in salads and sometimes just fried up on its own. In Greece, there was more of a mixture of the Mediterranean triad and the "barbarian" triad. There was olive oil, wine, and bread to go around, but there was also a lot of meat dishes such as stewed or roasted lamb or souvlaki or the ever popular gyros and cheese was integrated into a lot of their dishes. 

The differences between Greek and Italian food is most characteristic in their breakfasts. In Italy its a cappuccino and maybe a cornetto (croissant), but in Greece, there was full breakfast with eggs and bacon or sausage and a cheese pastry or chocolate croissant or a cheese and cold cut platter. It was a much-needed breakfast for an American missing fried eggs. But back to cheese. I have noticed with cheeses in Italy it is usually between two extremes a subtle almost bland cheese like mozzarella or the primo sale cheese we ate in class and then there are sharper cheeses either with herbs, spices, or just aged to a sharp cheese. Although it's not exactly what I expected, I still really love going to the mercato and choosing a cheese, cold cut, and grapes to have for a snack!