Cheshire cheese

Chester Chester cheese or short (English Cheshire [ tʃɛʃə ] cheese ) is an English cow's milk cheese with at least 48 % fat in the dry matter, matured for at least four to eight weeks, but can also be stored to well over a year.

The cheese is named after the county in North West England, from which he comes, Cheshire, formerly of Chester County, with its capital at Chester. The cheese is produced mainly there and in the neighboring counties of Denbighshire, Flintshire and Shropshire, which comes from the fact that the County of Cheshire, was at the time when the name of the cheese was still affected a lot bigger than it is today. Since the name of the cheese is not protected, to counterfeit products can be found under this name in many parts of the world.

History

Cheese production has probably been introduced in the region Cheshire by the Romans; it is also possible that these vorfanden a local cheese production, which they further developed. Castra Devana, such as the city of Chester was called in Roman times, in ancient times was an important trading center for cheese. After the withdrawal of the Roman troops, the tradition of cheese production was continued by the Britons.

The Cheshire is the oldest name of traditional cheese of Great Britain; he is writing for the first time in the 1086 Domesday Book completed, a custom built at the instigation of William the Conqueror's Doomsday Book, mentioned.

Once in the 1640s, a plague had carried off large herds in Suffolk, where until then specially made ​​supply of cheese to London, the Royal Navy large quantities of sales of Cheshire cheese took in the capital by leaps and bounds, as evidenced by reports of port authorities from 1650. In that year, they had begun to the normal trade routes across Cheshire also to transport additionally by ship from Liverpool to London to meet the growing demand.

In the late 18th century, the Cheshire became one of the most important cheese in the UK market, after the Navy in 1758 decreed that their ships had to provide for their own needs instead of the usual, cheaper cheeses stocked with Cheshire and Gloucester. To 1823, the annual production of Cheshire was an estimated 10,000 tonnes in England.

Also in Germany the cheese at the turn of the 18th to the 19th century was already known and was highly valued, such as the detailed appreciation of Chester, keyword: cheese in the reasoned by Johann Georg Krünitz Oeconomischen encyclopedia shows. There is also clear that it is not so easy to imitate a real Cheshire, even if you know the method of preparation, since the quality of the milk used plays a crucial role in the quality of the cheese. From original Cheshire, it is expected that the cows could graze, who delivered the milk to the vast, salty pastures of the Cheshire level (Cheshire Gap ). The hollow trough this level between the hills of North Wales and the Peak District of Derbyshire was ejected from a glacial glacier, which many like pearls strung together dead ice holes left behind in his retreat, which are as small lakes and ponds shape the landscape today. The soils of the region have rich salt deposits near the surface. These salts give clearly about the food plants of the milk of cows grazing here a special texture and spice that also characterizes the cheese as a final product. For this reason, the longest time was Cheshire, which was produced between about May and October, while the cattle graze outdoors, deductible in long-distance trade at good prices. The milk from the winter feeding with hay or silage was utilized for their own needs in the region.

Until the late 19th century, the different variants of Cheshire were usually stored for longer than usual today, before they came on the market. Mature Cheshire is stronger and thus more likely to survive the rigors of transportation without prejudice with horse-drawn carts on bumpy roads and a sailing ship on the high seas. Younger, fresher and also bröckeligerer Cheshire, as it is produced mainly today in a similar form, began only towards the end of the 19th century, especially in the industrial areas in the north of England and enforce the Midlands. For this purpose, less flavor than more financial motives were crucial because young cheese could be produced and distributed generally cheaper because of the shorter storage time. A highlight of the total sales of Cheshire in 1960 with approximately 40,000 tons per year, since then however, they continue to fall due to the increasing variety of other cheeses. With 6,500 tons annually of Cheshire is still the best selling cheese its kind in the UK. Since the name is not trademarked, also produce many other manufacturers around the world cheese to the Chester and Cheshire method and call it that way. However, the result remains in consistency and taste often below expectations, provide the real gourmets Cheshire.

Production

The actual production of Cheshire only takes two to three hours. The milk is mixed with the Melkganges morning of the previous evening, where appropriate, pasteurized and then mixed with a starter culture of lactic acid bacteria to prepare the milk maturation. Then brought the acidified milk with rennet to coagulate. After coagulation, the resulting curd is cut with a cheese harp up to a grain size of about a grain of wheat. The resulting curd-whey mixture is then stirred as long as - said more whey is separated - and the desired strength of the curds is reached ( 100-120 min.) Then the whey is separated, the fraction salted, milled and packed in barrel-shaped forms in which it is pressed a day or two. Then the cheeses can be removed from the molds and stored in refrigerated cellars where they are cared for until the desired maturity. The maturation takes at least four to eight weeks, the cheese to mature well over a year but to where the flavor is sharper with increasing maturation. Some manufacturers use for Cheshire to represent an exclusively raw milk, while the industrial producers use pasteurized milk. A favorite in the area of dairy farmers cattle breed is the black colorful Friesian.

Variants

A typical Cheshire usually has the form of an approximately 30 centimeters high barrel with a diameter of 20 centimeters and a weight of about eight kilograms and a fat content of at least 48 percent in the dry matter. According to gourmets, the cheese paste of Cheshire at the age of four to six months, the best balance between a pleasant, slightly salty flavor and moist crumbly texture. The tastes go here apart but so that the will rather prefer a young, mild and juicy cheese, while another might well matured Cheshire particularly values ​​her intensely spicy to pungent aroma.

Commercially are four variants of Cheshire:

• White Cheshire, depending on the age of whitish- gold to yellow color and is made without color additives.
• Red Cheshire with intense orange to red in color, which is obtained by adding annatto. The vegetable dye enriched not only the color but also the taste of the cheese with wealth and her own pleasant slightly bitter note.
• Blue ( veined ) he Cheshire, which is also traded under the name Shropshire. The blue veins of this variety are caused by white mold, which spread during the maturation in the fine hairline cracks of the cheese. The blue version was once generally considered undesirable failure maturation, but is now increasingly appreciated by consumers because of the interesting flavor and accordingly can be marketed better.
• Smoked Cheshire ( Cheshire Smoked cheese ) is made from red or white Cheshire. Initially, the method of smoking was primarily used in order to improve the durability of the cheese. Today, many smaller producers reflect back despite modern cooling systems all about it, because they take off their cheese through the special flavor component of the smoke flavorings of industrial mass products and would like to emphasize the craftsmanship production. Before smoking the barrel-shaped cheeses are cut into four slices, so that the flavors penetrate better into the dough. The optimum fuel for smoking applies oak. By smoking the bark and outside of the cheese slices is strongly colored golden brown and takes on a strong smoky flavor, while the inner dough through the smoking process is somewhat paler.

There are also some manufacturers who make cheese Cheshire with milk from organic farming and comply with the production all the criteria of the EU - Eco-regulation, so its cheese must be marked in Germany with the organic seal.

Some sources consider the Cheshire due to the similar production process as a variety of Cheddar. Contradicted by the fact that the optimal ripeness for the Cheshire with four to six months of experts is generally recognized earlier than for the cheddar, which after over a year of maturation time achieved his best stage after a majority opinion.

Other meanings

• Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese is the name of a historic pubs in London, near Fleet Street and is copied in a similar form by many other shops and pubs.