When: June 4
Cheese is milk transformed by bacteria, mold, time, and temperature into one of the most varied and complex food categories in existence. There are over 1,800 named cheese varieties. Understanding the basic categories and how they're made unlocks the entire map.
The most diverse food category on Earth — and the one most worth exploring systematically.
Cheese was discovered before bread, before recorded history, and probably by accident. Animal stomachs used as carrying vessels for milk contain rennet — an enzyme complex that coagulates milk protein — and the curdled, slightly aged result in a traveler's pouch would have been edible and stable in ways that fresh milk was not. The basic technique is at least 10,000 years old; the diversity of what has grown from that accident is essentially infinite. The variables that determine all cheese are a few: milk source (cow, sheep, goat, buffalo — each with different fat, protein, and aromatic composition); coagulation method (rennet, acid, heat-and-acid); moisture content (removed through pressing and aging); and rind type (bloomy white mold, washed brine or alcohol, natural, hard). Across these variables, humans have produced over 1,800 named cheese varieties worldwide. A soft young chèvre and a 36-month Parmigiano-Reggiano share the same fundamental process and nothing else about their...