from the moon-is-made-of-green-cheese dept.
If the right cheese curds from the right milk are at the right temperature, fungi become "the king of the mountain," says Dennis D'Amico, a food microbiologist at the University of Connecticut who studies cheese production. Under the correct conditions, mold spores thrive on proteins, fats, sugars and the remains of the original bacteria that turned the milk into cheese. As the mold spreads throughout the cheese and its exterior, it continues the transformation that the bacteria started.
So when human teeth finally sink in, they bite into a new set of even smaller active molecules. And if the cheese is blue cheese, where the bacteria P. roqueforti dwell deep inside, enjoying a slice means consuming living fungi in the middle of their own midday snack.
The flavors, smells and textures specific to each type of cheese are due to various combinations of fungi species. A Brie or Camembert, for example, requires at least four types of mold. One, G. candidum, produces a sulfur flavor and contributes to the creaminess of the cheese. Another, P. camemberti, blossoms into a distinct white rind. The symphony of mold makes the final texture and mushroomy, sweaty taste.
But while the concerto is beautiful, the identities of all the musicians remain mysterious.
Identifying all of the active fungi in a cheese is "an endless, endless rabbit hole," says [cheesemaker Benton] Brown. Most of the moldy cheeses we have today are happy accidents, D'Amico said, the details of which can only be understood with elaborate lab analyses.
Original Article at Scienceline.org
(Score: 3, Funny) by VLM on Tuesday February 14 2017, @10:07PM
Identifying all of the active fungi in a cheese is "an endless, endless rabbit hole"
For which we should be thankful lest we have to suffer thru blue cheese flavored energy drinks and cheddar flavored bubble gum. I suppose its inevitable someday. Doesn't mean I have to look forward to it. Here have a scoop of Camembert flavored ice cream.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 15 2017, @09:41PM
There really is a parmesan flavored ice cream from colonial times that is actually quite delicious. There's a video on it on Youtube.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 14 2017, @10:12PM
Might as well chow down on well-used socks, hmmm?
This is right up there with eating pepper, a plant that hurts you: human brains have their defects
Strong cheese even has the same odor molecules as vomit. If you like that, puke and be happy.
(Score: 2, Informative) by charon on Tuesday February 14 2017, @10:14PM
(Score: 2) by fishybell on Tuesday February 14 2017, @10:22PM
From that wiki:
...eewww.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Tuesday February 14 2017, @10:48PM
Well, why waste perfectly good protein?
Couldn't find English subtitles for this old parody of fine rural products: Roll the dried toad inside the bottle before filling with alcohol [dailymotion.com]. (starts near 50s)
(Score: 3, Interesting) by bob_super on Tuesday February 14 2017, @10:23PM
Yep, Sardinia/Corsica have some of the most offensive cheeses I've ever seen. Dropping one in a crowded US room would be classified as chem/bio-terror.
And that's from someone who can handle most continental cheeses...
Dang, I miss cheap Coulomier.
(Score: 2) by AthanasiusKircher on Wednesday February 15 2017, @03:36AM
Not from those islands, but I once knew an Italian guy who told me that taleggio cheese had a specific phrase in Italian to describe its stench, something like "an Alpine soldier's boot after a long march." That about sums it up.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 14 2017, @11:01PM
Would you rather eat cheese or insects?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 15 2017, @11:25AM
I had the same opinion as you, until I had a visit to France (they keep the best quality cheeses for themselves, export the poorer quality) and tried some. Yes they smell strong, but you can easily recognise the many flavours if you really taste it (don't "chow it down"). In that way it becomes an experience and you'll try other cheeses (some good, some not so good) and get to appreciate the cheeses for what they are (taste and texture bombs).
Or you don't, and keep eating those rather boring "plastic" cheeses they put on all kinds of pre-processed fast food.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 14 2017, @10:24PM
And if the cheese is blue cheese, where the bacteria P. roqueforti dwell deep inside, enjoying a slice means consuming living fungi in the middle of their own midday snack.
There is no such thing as enjoying a slice of blue cheese. Thus, fake news, exactly as defined by both the RNC and the DNC.
That said, it is an interesting read. Thanks, Soylent!
(Score: 2) by r1348 on Wednesday February 15 2017, @03:17AM
I actually greatly enjoy my occasional spread of gorgonzola.
(Score: 2) by AthanasiusKircher on Wednesday February 15 2017, @03:41AM
I'm guessing you're at least partly joking, but I have to say that I've been most impressed over time with the varieties of blue cheeses when I've had an opportunity to sample them at restaurants. I know a few restaurants which have a very well-stocked "cheese cart," and on the rare occasions I splurge for a pricey meal there, I eventually took to requesting that they just give me several varieties of blue with a cheese plate, just because it's so interesting. (Well, a couple other cheeses are good just for contrast, but I once had a plate with six different blues that were all so amazing and so incredibly different....)
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 15 2017, @07:36PM
Utterly joking, actually. While I cannot stand any blue cheeses personally, I do understand their appeal. I literally cannot eat any blue cheese I've ever tried tasting and end up spitting it into a napkin. And I wish I did have a taste for them, as the variety seems exceptional and friends who enjoy them report the large variations in flavor as you do. As opposed to, "Oh, here's another hunk of [Cheddar, Colby, Whatever.]," cheeses I love. They have flavor variations too but I suspect less so than the blues. [Along with a very mild meta satirical appreciation that in many instances "fake news" refers to differing opinions of things as opposed to reporting actual false facts.]
(Score: 2) by aliks on Tuesday February 14 2017, @10:51PM
As de Gaulle once said - how can you conquer a country with over 900 different cheeses.
If you worry about ammonia smelling cheese then think of it as a macho challenge.
To err is human, to comment divine
(Score: 1) by Linatux on Tuesday February 14 2017, @11:19PM
Don't need to 'conquer' them - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZUKEVU-TwM [youtube.com]
(Score: 3, Insightful) by edIII on Tuesday February 14 2017, @11:06PM
Sometimes the better question is not what is in the cheese, but who cut the cheese.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 15 2017, @03:16AM
Lactose intolerance is real!
(Score: 3, Interesting) by dyingtolive on Wednesday February 15 2017, @12:49AM
I ferment a lot of things. I regularly make sauerkraut, beer, and wine, and my girlfriend makes kimchi. It's still pretty amazing to me that sometimes you can make food better (and even still healthy) by just letting it get chewed on by something else for a while first. It's also pretty amazing how easy it is to keep other things from getting involved.
Gonna try making my own cheese at some point in the future, but I haven't delved there yet.
Don't blame me, I voted for moose wang!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 15 2017, @06:30AM
You might as well make salt-rising bread then. It uses hydrogen-producing bacteria instead of yeast.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt-rising_bread [wikipedia.org]
http://www.popsci.com/article/science/clostridium-it-can-kill-you-or-it-can-make-you-bread [popsci.com]
http://saltrisingbread.net/index_files/Page416.htm [saltrisingbread.net]
The best quote: "He obtained a bacillus culture that had originally been taken from a soldier's infected wound. And he made bread with the wound bacteria."
(Score: 2) by dyingtolive on Wednesday February 15 2017, @04:00PM
That's interesting. It's similar in composition to a soda bread (less the buttermilk) and similar in methodology to a sourdough starter, as wikipedia kind of says. I'll have to give it a shot.
Also, that quote, oh man that is pretty hardcore.
Don't blame me, I voted for moose wang!
(Score: 3, Funny) by gidds on Wednesday February 15 2017, @01:49PM
Honey could be an even-more-literal example.
[sig redacted]
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Wednesday February 15 2017, @07:19PM
I always considered Kimshi to be Korean Saurkraut. They look different, but taste the same.
Mad at your neighbors? Join ICE, $50,000 signing bonus and a LICENSE TO MURDER!
(Score: 2) by dyingtolive on Wednesday February 15 2017, @08:30PM
Yeah, now that I think about it, they're really similar enough that they should probably just be lumped together. There's a lot more "other stuff" in it though, but I suppose that also depends on what type you're making.
My sauerkraut has cabbage, water, caraway seeds, and a little bit of salt in it. I think I threw some chives in there too once. Hers has larger chunks of a different (Napa?) cabbage, carrots, some other veggies, and some combination of powdered hot pepper and spices in it. Hers also ferments for a couple days, whereas I normally do a week or so I think. There are apparently a million different variations on that though, so I'm sure there are more than a few that are basically just cabbage and water.
Don't blame me, I voted for moose wang!