Picture this: you’re at a high school graduation party. You plop four — nay, five — tomato and mozzarella skewers onto your plate. You then sing their praises to the host, who points to a cherry tomato plant near the lawn’s edge. Aha! You’re ecstatic to know the source. But wait — where did the cheese come from?
At the Hoard’s Dairyman Farm Creamery, we know exactly where our cheese comes from and how it’s made — and so can you.
It all starts with high-quality milk from our own Hoard’s Dairyman Farm, and we pride ourselves on having some of the best in the nation. From there, it’s about the cheesemaking process: a tradition as old and practiced as milking itself.
Cheese began as an inadvertent discovery (forgotten milk turned accidentally to curd) and is now a beloved food. But where does it come from, and how is it made?
For instance, did you know that it takes ten pounds of milk to make one pound of cheese? Or that the scale of a cheese’s sweet or bitter taste depends on how much starter culture is added to the pre-curded milk? Or that coagulation is the process during which milk proteins thicken, and rennet refers to added enzymes that move that process along?
Maybe you did – if so, your basic cheese knowledge far surpasses my own. But in case this is new and unfamiliar territory, let’s start from the beginning.
According to The Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin, the cheesemaking process begins with the immediate pasteurization of a milk delivery. Pasteurization is the process of heating milk to a specific temperature for a set period of time in order to kill off harmful bacteria that may be found in raw milk. From there, starter culture (friendly bacteria) and rennet are added. Starter culture turns milk sugars (lactose) into lactic acid, and rennet kickstarts coagulation, triggering the beginning of the milk’s transformation.
After between 30 minutes to two hours of setting, the milk binds together to form curd. The curd sits in a bath of whey — a liquid made up of water and milk protein — which needs to be drained so that cheesemakers can retrieve the curd. The more whey that is released, the harder the cheese will be. Similarly, the smaller the curd, the harder the cheese will be, and vice versa.
Once the curd has been drained and cut, it’s time for salting and cooking. Salt enhances flavor, develops texture, and is a natural preservative. It may be used in various ways throughout the cheesemaking process: added directly into the fresh curd, sprinkled on top of the curd once formed, or used in a brine bath.
A cheesemaker may also add herbs or other ingredients while the curd cooks.
Once the curd is pressed into a form, the pieces naturally knit together to create a solid shape. The harder the curd is pressed into its form, the firmer the cheese will be. Softer variations such as mozzarella are heated and stretched rather than pressed.
Finally, the cheese is either left to ripen in a temperature-controlled room or served fresh.
From liquid to solid to table to mouth, the process of cheesemaking is precise and hands-on. Next time you eat a mozzarella ball, you’ll be doing so with the arresting knowledge of how it came to be.
Order your own Hoard’s Dairyman Farm Creamery cheeses here.
