Feta
Feta, a white, so-called pickled cheese, is the principal soft cheese made by the shepherds in the mountainous region near Athens, Greece. It usually is made from ewe's milk but is sometimes made from goat's milk. In the United States it is made from cow's milk.
The fresh milk is poured into large containers, heated to about 95° F., and rennet is added. When firm, the curd is cut or broken. It is dipped into bottomless wooden forms—about 4 feet long, 2½ feet wide, and 8 inches deep—that have been placed on a coarse cloth on a drain table or rack. When the curd is sufficiently firm, it is cut into blocks and dry salt is rubbed on the surface. Later the same day the blocks are turned and salted again. The next morning the blocks are cut into slices about an inch thick, and these are salted and then packed either in paraffined wooden kegs that hold from 100 to 170 pounds, or in smaller tin containers. The cheese is ready to eat in about a month.
When made on a smaller scale, the curd may be dipped into a cloth bag after the milk coagulates. The bag is twisted and worked to expel most of the whey from the curd and then hung up to drain for a few hours. The curd is then taken out of the bag and cut into slices about an inch thick. The slices are sprinkled liberally with dry salt. About 24 hours later the curd is packed in wooden kegs. The cheese is ready to eat in 4 or 5 days.
Filled
Filled cheese is made from milk or skim milk to which foreign fat has been added. The foreign fat is added either by stirring it vigorously into the milk and using enough rennet to coagulate the milk quickly, or by incorporating the fat into the milk by homogenization. The cheese then is made in the usual manner. Filled cheese, whether made in the United States or imported, is a taxable product, subject to various Federal and State laws that define the conditions under which it can be manufactured and sold.
Fiore Sardo
Fiore Sardo, a hard, Italian cheese made from ewe's milk, is used as a table cheese when immature and as a condiment when fully cured.
Fløtost
Fløtost (Flø in Norwegian indicates cream) is a boiled-whey cheese made in Norway. It is like Mysost except that it contains more fat—usually not less than 20 percent of fat in the solids.
Flower
Flower cheese is a soft, cured cheese made in England from cow's whole milk. It contains the petals of various kinds of flowers, such as roses or marigolds, which accounts for its name.
Foggiano
Foggiano cheese, which resembles Cotronese and Moliterno, is made from ewe's milk in Apulia, Italy.
Fontina
Fontina is a cooked-curd, whole-milk, semisoft to hard, slightly yellow cheese with a delicate, nutty flavor and a pleasing aroma. It is made from ewe's milk in the Aosta Valley in Piedmont, Italy (it is said to be made also from cow's milk in summer), and from cow's milk in the United States. It is round and flat, like a Daisy (Cheddar), and weighs between 25 and 75 pounds—usually 33 to 44 pounds. A smaller style is called Midget Fontina.
According to Italian authorities, Fontina is similar to Montasio and Bitto, and it is said to be similar also to Battelmatt.
Fontina is made by a method similar to that used in making Gruyere. Color may be added to the milk, which is set with either rennet paste or rennet extract. The cheese is salted in brine and cured for at least 2 months. It may have a few small, round eyes. The surface may be oiled. When partly cured, it is used as a table cheese (it is frequently melted); when fully cured, it is hard and is used for grating.
Analysis: Moisture, not more than 42 percent (usually 38 percent); fat, 28 to 31.5 percent (not less than 50 percent in the solids).
Forez
Forez cheese, sometimes called d'Ambert, is made in central France. It is cylindrical in shape, about 10 inches in diameter and 6 inches thick. The making process is said to be very crude, and the cheese is cured in a very unusual way. It is placed on the floor of a cellar and covered with dirt, over which water is permitted to trickle. Frequently the cheese is spoiled by the undesirable molds and bacteria that grow on it. Good-quality Forez is said to resemble Roquefort in flavor.
Formagelle
Formagelle is a small, soft cheese made from ewe's or goat's milk in the mountains of northern Italy. It is made only in the spring or autumn; it may or may not be salted; and it is eaten while fresh.
Formaggi di Pasta Filata
Formaggi di Pasta Filata (cheese from plastic curd) refers to a group of Italian cheeses that are made by curdling the milk with rennet, warming and fermenting the curd, heating it until it is plastic, drawing it into ropes and then kneading and shaping it while it is hot and plastic. This unusual manipulation of the curd while it is being drawn and shaped results in cheese that is free of holes or pockets of air and whey and that keeps well even in warm climates. Some plastic-curd cheeses are eaten as table cheese when fresh or after curing only a few months; others are used for grating after long curing which makes them hard and sharp in flavor.
Among the best known plastic-curd cheeses are: Provolone, Caciocavallo, Moliterno, Mozzarella, Provatura, and Scamorze. Others are Katschkawalj and Kaskaval, which are made in the Balkans; Oschtjepek and Parenica, made in Slovakia; and Panedda, made in Sardinia. Many of these are known locally by other names. A description of most of the different kinds is given under its specific name.
Formaggini
Formaggini (small cheese) is a descriptive term applied to several kinds of small, Italian cheeses.
Formaggini di Lecco is a small, cylindrical, dessert cheese that is made in the vicinity of Lecco, in Lombardy, from cow's milk to which some goat's milk may be added. It may be eaten while fresh and sweet or at any stage of ripening. When fully cured, it is very piquant. It is made by a method similar to that used in making other soft cheeses. Rennet is added to the warmed milk, which is then held at a temperature of 55° F. for 24 hours. Then, with as little breaking of the curd as possible, the whey is drained off; this takes 3 or 4 hours. Salt is added to the curd, sometimes pepper, sugar, and cinnamon, and occasionally oil and vinegar. The curd is put into cylindrical molds about 1¼ inches in diameter and 2 inches deep. Each cheese weighs about 2 ounces.
Formaggini di Montpellier is another soft, Italian cheese. It is made by curdling milk with a rennet paste containing white wine, thistle blossoms, and flavoring materials.
Fresa
Fresa is a mild, sweet, soft, cooked cheese made in Sardinia from cow's milk.
Fribourg
Fribourg, made originally in Switzerland and now also in the Po valley in Italy, is a hard cheese made by a method similar to that used in making Swiss. It is a cooked-curd cheese, the curd being heated to 120° F. or slightly higher. According to some authorities Fribourg is the same as Spalen (or Sbrinz).
Friesian Clove
Friesian Clove is a spiced cheese made in the Netherlands from cow's milk that may be partly skimmed. Cloves are added to the curd before it is hooped. The cheeses are round and flat and weigh between 20 and 40 pounds.
The cheese is similar in analysis to Leyden, the moisture and fat content depending on the extent to which the milk is skimmed.
Fromage á la Créme
Fromage á la Créme (French Cream Cheese) is a soft, rich cheese that is consumed without ripening. Rennet is added to fresh whole milk, or milk with cream added, and it is coagulated at a temperature of 70° F. The coagulated curd is held for 20 to 24 hours; then the free whey is removed, and the curd is cut into slices and placed in a sieve to drain. After draining is completed, the curd is kneaded to a paste. More cream may be added, then seasoning, and the curd is placed in wicker molds. The cheese is meant to be eaten while it is fresh; however, it will keep for several days under refrigeration.
Fromage Fort
Fromage Fort, which is one of several French cooked cheeses, is made in the Department of Ain. Well drained, skim-milk curd is melted, and the melted mass is put into a cloth and pressed. It is then buried in dry ashes to remove as much whey as possible. Then the mass is grated fine and, after ripening for 8 to 10 days, milk, butter, salt, pepper, wine, etc., are added, and the mixture is ripened further.
Cooked cheeses are made by similar but slightly different methods in other parts of France, and they are known by any one of several names. Canquillote, sometimes spelled Cancoillotte and also called Fromagére, is a cheese of this kind that is made in eastern France, as is also Fondue, made in Lorraine.
Frühstück
Frühstück is a small, Limburger-type cheese made in Germany from whole or partly skimmed cow's milk. It usually is cylindrical in shape and from 2½ to 3 inches in diameter. It may be eaten without much curing, or it may be cured. During the curing process (which is similar to Romadur), yeasts and molds grow first on the surface of the cheese, followed by the so-called red cheese bacteria and formation of a surface smear. The cheese is wrapped in tinfoil or parchment. It may be wrapped when it is partly cured, in which case curing is completed at a temperature of 42° to 45° F. This type of cheese is referred to by various names, such as breakfast, dessert, appetite, and delicate cheese.
Analysis: Moisture, 40 to 60 percent; fat, 17 to 34 percent; and protein, 15 to 25 percent.
Gaiskäsli
Gaiskäsli is a soft cheese made from goat's milk in Germany and Switzerland. The milk is set with enough rennet to coagulate it in about 40 minutes. The curd is then broken up, stirred, and dipped into cylindrical molds about 3 inches in diameter. Each mold is filled with enough curd to make a cheese 1½ or 2 inches thick that weighs about half a pound. The molds are set on mats which allow the whey to drain freely, and salt is sprinkled on the surface of the cheeses. After 2 days the cheeses are turned and salted on the other surface. The cheese ripens in about 3 weeks and is said to have a very pleasing flavor.
Gammelost
Gammelost, made from sour skim milk in Norway (principally in the counties of Hardanger and Sogn), is a semisoft, blue-mold, ripened table cheese, with a rather sharp, aromatic flavor. The principal ripening molds are species of Mucor, Rhizopus, and Penicillium. The rind is brownish and the interior is brownish-yellow with a blue-green tint; the color darkens with age. The cheese is round and flat, usually about 6 inches in diameter, and from 5 to 6 inches thick. It weighs usually between 6 and 9 pounds, although some cheeses may weigh more than 25 pounds. The cheese is made by one method in Hardanger and by a slightly different method in Sogn.
In the Hardanger method, about 0.5 percent of lactic starter is added to skim milk and, after souring for a day or two at 66° F., it is put into a vat and warmed slowly to 145°. After about 30 minutes at that temperature, the curd is dipped into cloth bags and pressed heavily. After pressing, the curd is removed from the bags, broken up, and packed in cloth-lined forms which then are covered and placed in boiling whey for 3½ hours. This practically sterilizes the cheese and changes its texture. The next day the cheese is removed from the forms and put in a warm place for a day or two to dry, after which it is pierced with metal needles that have been inoculated with a mold—Penicillium roqueforti, or a related species—that develops a greenish-blue mold throughout the cheese. It is then placed on shelves in a curing room which is maintained at a temperature of 50° to 55° and a relative humidity of 90 percent. A Mucor, which is propagated by handrubbing the surface with mycelium from older cheeses, develops on t he surface of the cheese. The cheese is inverted daily or at least every other day, and rubbed or cleaned if necessary. The curing period is about 4 weeks or somewhat longer.
In the Sogn method, 1½ to 2 percent of starter is added to the skim milk, and it is soured at a temperature of 72° to 75° F.; on the second day, the milk may be transferred to the cheese vat where souring is completed at a temperature of 77°. When the milk has reached the desired stage of souring (a later stage than in the Hardanger method), it is heated slowly to the boiling point. The whey is removed, and the curd is heated to about 195°, then placed in forms to drain. The forms are covered with cloths and kept in a warm place. After the whey has drained off, the curd is removed from the forms, crumbled fine, inoculated with mold, and repressed. The next day the cheeses are removed from the forms, dried in a warm place for 4 or 5 days, and then taken to the curing room. The curing process is the same as in the Hardanger method.
In both methods, after the cheese is partly cured, it may be put in chests lined with straw that has been treated with heated juniper extract. The yield of cured cheese is between 4 and 5½ pounds per 100 pounds of skim milk.
Analysis: Moisture, not more than 52 percent (usually 46 to 52 percent); fat, 0.5 to 1.0 percent; protein, 45 to 50 percent; ash, 2.5 percent; and salt (in the ash), 1 percent.
Gautrias
Gautrias cheese, which resembles Port du Salut, is made in the Department of Mayenne, France. The cheese is cylindrical in shape, and each cheese weighs about 5 pounds.
Gavot
Gavot cheese is made from cow's, ewe's, or goat's milk in the Department of Hautes-Alpes, France.
Geheimrath
Geheimrath, which is made in small quantities in the Netherlands, is a deep yellow cheese that resembles a small Gouda and is made by a similar method.
Géromé
Géromé, also known as Gérardmer, is a soft cheese made in the Vosges mountain region of France, and in Switzerland. It derives its name from Gérardmer, a village in the region where it has been made for a century or more.
Cow's milk is used in making Géromé, but at times a little goat's milk is added. Fresh milk is set with rennet at a temperature between 80° and 90° F. About half an hour later, the curd is cut into rather large cubes; an hour after cutting, the whey is dipped off. Sometimes anise is added to the curd at this time, then the curd is put into cylindrical hoops of wood or tin. The hoops vary in size but usually are 6 or 7 inches in diameter, and they are piled one on another to a height of 14 or 15 inches. The cheeses are turned after 6 hours and again after 12 hours, then twice daily for the next 2 or 3 days, the hoops being changed each time. The temperature of the room should be between 60° and 70° during this process. After hooping, the cheeses are salted. The quantity of salt used is from 3 to 3.5 percent of the weight of the cheese.
Then the cheeses are dried in a well ventilated room for several days. When dry, they are transferred to the curing cellar, where they are turned frequently and washed with warm salty water to keep the surface free of mold. They are cured for 6 weeks to 4 months, depending on their size; they range in weight from 8 ounces to 5 pounds or more. The cured cheese often has a greenish tint.
Gex
Gex, a hard, cow's-milk cheese, is named for the town of Gex in the Department of Ain, France, where it was first made more than a hundred years ago. Production has been confined largely to this region, but some Gex is made in the Departments of Jura and Isere, in southeastern France. It is one of the group of blue-mold cheeses known in France as Bleu cheeses or Fromage Persillé; the group includes Sassenage, Septmoncel, and several others resembling Roquefort.
Rennet is added to the fresh milk as soon as possible after milking. After a coagulation period of ½ to 2 hours, the curd is broken up and stirred until it is in a semiliquid condition. After about 10 minutes, during which time the curd settles to the bottom of the vat, the whey is drained off. Then the curd is worked by hand, salted slightly, and put into hoops about 12 inches in diameter and 5 inches deep. In about an hour the cheeses are turned, and a disk and weight are placed on them. Turning is repeated 3 or 4 times a day; the hoops are removed at the end of the first day. The cheeses are salted and then taken to the curing room where a penicillium mold, which soon develops on them, gives them a bluish appearance. (The mold is not introduced into the interior of the cheese while it is being made, as is done with Roquefort.) The curing process requires from 3 to 4 months and is completed in cellars or natural caves. A cured cheese weighs between 14 and 15 pounds.
Analysis: Moisture, 32 percent; fat, 30 percent; and protein, 30 percent.
Gislev
Gislev is a hard cheese made in Denmark from cow's milk.
Analysis: Moisture, 49.2 percent; fat, 3 percent; and protein, 41.5 precent.
Gjetost
Gjetost is a Norwegian boiled-whey cheese. The "Gje-" indicates that it is a goat's-milk product. However, it is commonly made from the whey obtained when cheese is made from a mixture of cow's milk and not less than 10 percent of goat's milk. When cheese is made from goat's milk only and the whey so obtained is made into boiled-whey cheese, it is called ekte (genuine) Gjetost, or Geitmysost.
The whey is stirred and condensed by heating to about one-fourth its original volume, when it will have the consistency of heavy cream. The cheese is golden brown; its principal constituent is lactose. Usually a cheese weighs about 9 pounds, but cheeses weighing 1 pound and ½ pound are also made.
Analysis: Moisture, 13 percent; fat in the solids, 33 percent.
Gloucester
Gloucester is a hard cheese made in England in the county of Gloucester, for which it is named. Gloucester and Derby are said to be almost identical and are made in practically the same way. Single Gloucesters, made originally in farm dairies, are 16 inches in diameter, between 2 and 3 inches thick, and weigh about 15 pounds. Double Gloucesters, which have become relatively uncommon, are also 16 inches in diameter, but they are between 4 and 5 inches thick and weigh about 24 pounds. When the cheese is about a month old it may be colored with red or brown dye. The surface of an uncolored cheese is clear yellow and is said to have well-developed blue mold on the sides. The cheese is very firm, the texture is smooth, close, and waxy, and the flavor is mild and rich.
Analysis: Moisture, 32.3 to 36 percent; fat, 29 to 33 percent; protein, 27.6 to 28.1 percent; and salt, 2 to 2.5 percent.
Glumse
Glumse, which resembles Cottage cheese, is made in western Prussia. Skim milk, curdled by souring, is heated until firm either by heating slowly to about 105° F., which causes the curd to contract and expel whey, or by pouring hot water into the sour, coagulated milk. A perforated ladle or dipper is used to remove the curd, which is drained in a sieve. Milk or cream is mixed with the curd before it is eaten.
Goat's-Milk
Goat's-milk cheeses of many kinds are made by using goat's milk instead of cow's milk and making the cheese in the usual way. Also, cheese often is made from a mixture of goat's milk and either cow's milk, or ewe's milk, or both. In many instances, goat's-milk cheese is not identified by any particular name to distinguish it from cow's milk cheese. However, in France, Chevret or Chevrotin designate goat's-milk cheese, and Gratairon, Lamothe, and Poitiers are local names for cheeses made from goat's milk. In Italy, Formaggio di Capra designates goat's-milk cheese, and the adjective "caprino" is used to indicate a product made from goat's milk. In German-speaking countries, Ziegenkäse or Gaiskäsli designate goat's-milk cheese. However, in certain parts of Germany and in Switzerland, Gaiskäsli is the name of a particular soft cheese made from goat's milk.
Gomost
Gomost is a whole-milk Norwegian cheese, made usually from cow's milk but also at times from goat's milk. The milk is curdled with a small quantity of rennet and is condensed by heating until it has a butter-like consistency. The method for making Gomost is very much like the method for making Mysost.
Gorgonzola
Gorgonzola, known also as Stracchino di Gorgonzola, is the principal blue-green veined cheese of Italy. It is said to have been made in the Po Valley since 879 A.D. It is named for the village of Gorgonzola, near Milan, but very little is made there now. It is made chiefly in Lombardy—where its manufacture is an important industry—and in Piedmont. It formerly was made during September and October, because winter conditions favor curing. However, curing caves have been built in cliffs in the Alps, especially near Lecco, and it is now made throughout the year. It is made also in numerous other countries; in the United States it is made mostly in Wisconsin and Michigan.
The interior of the cheese is mottled with blue-green veins like those in Roquefort. In Italy the mold is called Penicillium glaucum rather than P. roqueforti—the name used in the United States—but it is the same mold, at least in some instances. The surface of the cheese formerly was protected by covering it with a reddish coat resembling clay, which is prepared from barite or brick dust, lard or tallow, and coloring matter. Now, however, tinfoil and stout containers are used. The cheeses, which are cylindrical and flat, are from 8½ to 11 inches in diameter and from 6½ to 8 inches thick, and weigh between 14 and 17 pounds.
Evening milk is warmed to 86° F., or sometimes 90°, and enough rennet added to coagulate it in 15 to 20 minutes. The curd is cut slowly, allowed to settle, collected in a cloth, and hung up to drain overnight in a room in which the temperature is between 60° and 68°. Curd is prepared similarly from morning milk and is drained but not cooled. Expandable wooden hoops, 8 to 12 inches in diameter and 10½ to 12 inches deep, are lined with cloth and placed on rye straw or drain mats on a drain table. The two lots of curd are cut into rather large slices or portions, and mold powder is sprinkled in as the portions are placed alternately in the hoops. The warm (morning) curd is placed mainly in the bottom and at the periphery and piled up on top, with the cool (evening) curd between. This distribution of the curd is considered a critical part of the making process. It aids in developing mechanical openings in the interior of the cheese and in binding the surface and making it smooth. The piled-up curd is covered with the edges of the cloth lining, and the cheese is turned. It is repressed and turned every 2 hours at first and less frequently thereafter for a day. Then the cloth is removed and the cheese is replaced in the hoops, left on the straw or drain mat, and turned twice daily for several days. It is salted with dry salt, heavily at first and lightly later, a total of 8 to 12 times in from 1 to 3 weeks. The temperature of the room is held at 50° or a little higher.
The cheese is dried and initial curing takes place in a room in which the temperature is between 52° and 60° F., and the relative humidity is 75 to 80 percent. During this period-20 to 30 days—the cheese is turned and rubbed by hand every other day and kept clean. It is scraped with a knife occasionally.
The cheese then is moved to a room in which the temperature is from 48° to 50° F., and the relative humidity 85 to 90 percent, where the second stage of curing takes place. This period lasts 2 months. If the cheese was not punched earlier, it is punched at this stage.
Final curing takes place in a room in which the temperature is from 40° to 43° F., and the relative humidity is even higher than in the other curing rooms. The entire curing period is at least 90 days, frequently is 6 months, and may be a year.
The yield is 13 to 15 pounds of fresh cheese, or 10 to 12 pounds of cured cheese, per 100 pounds of milk.
Analysis: Moisture, not more than 42 percent (usually 35 to 38 percent); fat, 31 to 33 percent (not less than 50 percent of the solids); protein, 24 to 26 percent; and salt, 3 to 4 percent.
Gouda
Gouda, first made in the vicinity of Gouda in the Province of South Holland, Netherlands, is a semisoft to hard, sweet-curd cheese similar to Edam except that it contains more fat. It is made from whole or partly skimmed cow's milk, but skimmed less than milk used in making Edam. Gouda usually is shaped like a flattened sphere and pressed in molds with rounded ends. The molds vary in size but usually are nearly 14 inches in diameter and 4½ to 5 inches deep. The cheeses usually weigh between 10 and 25 pounds but may weigh as little as 6 or as much as 50 pounds. Gouda is made also in a loaf weighing about 8 pounds. A so-called "baby Gouda" is oval, weighs a pound or slightly less, may be coated with red wax, and wrapped in a cellophane-type wrapper. The red surface is not necessarily an identifying characteristic, however, as it is of domestic and imported Edam.
Gouda is made in much the same way as Edam. Some slight modifications in the details of manufacture are mentioned here. Although the milk may be set at any temperature between 84° and 90° F., it usually is set at 90°. After the curd is cut, the whey is drained off, heated, and poured back into the vat. This procedure is repeated once or twice, in order to increase the temperature of the curd to between 100° and 106°. Other factors being equal, cheese made from curd heated to the higher temperatures (within this range) will have a firmer body, will cure more slowly, and will have better keeping quality. Some salt is added to the curd before it is put into the hoops (molds) for pressing. Salting is usually completed by immersing the cheese in a salt solution; however, it may be completed in the curing room by rubbing dry salt on the cheese daily for 7 to 10 days. The cheese cures in 2 to 3 months, but it improves in flavor if it is cured for 5 to 6 months.
About 12½ pounds of uncured cheese can be made from 100 pounds of whole milk, and about 8 pounds of cured cheese from 100 pounds of milk containing from 3 to 3.5 percent of fat.
Analysis: Moisture, not more than 45 percent (usually 36 to 43.5 percent); fat, 29 to 30.5 percent (not less than 46 percent in the solids); protein, 25 to 26 percent; and salt, 1.5 to 2 percent.
Gournay
Gournay, a soft cheese of the fresh Neufchatel type, is named for the village of Gournay in the Department of Seine-Inférieure, France, where it is made. It is similar to the Cream cheese made in the United States. It usually is round and flat, about 3 inches in diameter and ¾ inch thick, and weighs about 4 ounces. However, it is made also in 2⅓ inch squares that are ¾ inch thick. Gournay contains between 1 and 2 percent of salt, and usually is wrapped in tinfoil. A similar cheese, Gournay fleuri, is ripened to some extent with a surface mold—Penicillium candidum—which gives it the flavor of Camembert.
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