Mascarpone: Culinary Tradition Evolved

Mascarpone cheese, a luxurious Italian dairy product, has a rich history dating back to the Middle Ages, particularly originating in the Lombardy region. The name "mascarpone" is speculated to have linguistic roots in "mascarpia," an ancient term possibly referencing the process of curdling milk. This cheese's origins are deeply intertwined with Lombardy's dairy traditions, which flourished during the 1500s and 1600s with the development of cheese curds.

The production process of mascarpone shares similarities with ricotta cheese, as both involve curdling milk and straining, albeit with different techniques and ingredients. Mascarpone is made by heating and thickening heavy cream, typically sourced from pasteurized cow's milk, with an acidifying agent such as tartaric acid, citric acid, or lemon juice. Notably, its vegetarian nature stems from the absence of animal-derived rennet.

The resulting product is a thick, spreadable, and dense cream cheese boasting a natural sweetness. To achieve its characteristic texture, the heated cream is strained to remove excess liquid whey, resulting in a velvety smooth consistency.

In modern times, mascarpone has undergone significant transformations within Italian cuisine. Innovations have led to the emergence of various varieties, including chocolate-flavored, fruit-infused, and savory mascarpone, expanding its culinary applications beyond traditional desserts. Moreover, technological advancements in packaging have enhanced convenience and extended shelf life, making mascarpone more accessible to consumers worldwide.

Beyond its gastronomic appeal, mascarpone holds cultural significance and recognition within Italian culinary traditions. It has been designated as a "traditional regional food product" by the Italian government, receiving the prestigious P.A.T. label, which aims to protect its origin and historical heritage from imitation or misappropriation by other regions or producers.

In conclusion, mascarpone cheese stands as a testament to Italy's rich dairy heritage, evolving over centuries to become a versatile ingredient cherished by chefs and food enthusiasts globally. Its journey from Lombardy's medieval dairy farms to modern kitchens reflects not only culinary innovation but also the preservation of cultural identity and tradition.
Mascarpone: Culinary Tradition Evolved

History of parmesan cheese processing

The manufacturing process dates back to the Middle Ages, when monks in the northern Italian cities of Parma and Reggio Emilia developed a dry-paste cheese assembled into large wheels of up to 39 pounds (18 kg) each.

During that time, the Benedictine and Cistercian monks, committed to finding a cheese that could last long, were the first producers: using the salt from the Salsomaggiore salt mines and the milk of the cows bred in the granges. Benedictine monks created this cheese when they needed to find a way to extend the shelf-life of the large quantity of milk they were producing.

Soon, monasteries and castles in Parma and Reggio Emilia surroundings were turned into real cheese factories. Benedictine agricultural and commercial production expanded, bringing Parmigiano also to Modena. The cooks of that time mentioned “Parmigiano” in several recipes of pasta dishes and sweets.

During the 1300s and 1400s, these monks had a monopoly on parmesan cheese and would export it to different regions of Italy. As the cheese became more popular, it spread to the rest of Europe.

In the Emilia region of the 15th century, feudal lords and abbeys contributed to the production increase of the Parma and Reggio plains that led to further economic development.

From the16th century onwards, it was marketed in the whole of Europe. Cheese “moulds” for making it arrived in Germany, France, and Flanders, where it is cited by the best chefs of the day.

For almost 1,000 years, it has been made exactly the same way. The ingredients were always the same: water, salt, milk and much patience during the aging process. But, the most important ingredients were the pastures of Emilia Romagna. The Cistercian and Benedictine monasteries, which spread over the plains between Parma and Reggio Emilia, favored the development of granges or farms for raising cows suitable for milk production.

The milk was from the morning and the previous evening. It took about 550 liters of milk to produce each wheel of Parmigiano Reggiano.

The need to protect this unique product from other similar cheeses on the market was addressed as early as the 17th century, when the Duke of Parma, Ranuccio I Farnese, made the designation of origin official with a deed dated 7 August 1612, which defined where the cheese called “from Parma” should come from.
History of parmesan cheese processing

History of feta cheese

Feta cheese is a white cheese of high quality, manufactured from sheep’s milk or from a mixture of sheep’s and goat’s milk according to a specific technology, which is matured and stored in brine.

Cheese was first made accidentally by prehistoric man thousands of years ago. It is probable that milk was first carried in containers made from the skin or stomach of animals.

Feta cheese has been a significant dairy product in the diet of the Greeks since the time of Homer. References to cheese production go back to the 8th century BC. The cheese making technology described in Homer’s Odyssey is similar to the technology used until recently by Greek shepherds to make Feta cheese from the milk of their sheep and goats.

It was reported that manufacturing of pickled cheeses (feta cheese) in Egypt has been dated to the First Dynasty (3200 BC). Earthen cheese pots were found in the tomb of ‘Hor Aha’ at Saqqara.

The cheese made by the Cyclops Polyphemus (shepherd and cheesemaker) and by most ancient Greeks, was undoubtably the ancestor of modern Feta.

Aristotle (384-322 BC) says that cheese is composed of water, fat, and tyrine, term used in Greece up to the early 20th century designate casein.

For many centuries, Feta cheese was known only in the Balkan region. However, during the 20th century, large Greek communities were established in various countries, mainly in Australia, USA, Canada and Germany, due to mass migration of Greeks, who retained their dietary habits.
History of feta cheese

Camembert process cheese

Camembert is situated in the southern part of the Auge, five kilometers from Vimoutiers. Its irregular boundaries enclose area of approximately 2500 acres.

A Frenchwoman name Marie Harel is credited with inventing the gourmet cheese name for her native village of Camembert.

Marie was 19 year old cheesemaker and one day in 1810, her thoughts more on the boy next door than on her cheesemaking, she omitted the blue mold cheese culture from one batch of cheese. Upon tasting of that one batch with its soft creamy texture and delicious, her fame was made.

Another version of the story is that in 1790 after the French revolution a priest on the run was sheltered in the village of Camembert by Marie Harel. In gratitude, he taught her the cheesemaking technique use in his former parish in Brie, and Harel cleverly married it to local cheesemaking methods to create Camembert.

Marie then invented the Camembert cheese by combining the process of Brie and the recipe for Livarot, one of the oldest Norman cheeses.

In 1890 the characteristics round wooden box was invented and Camembert quickly became one of the most popular French cheeses conquering foreign market as well.
Camembert process cheese

History and origin of Blue cheese

Blue cheese is characterized by visible blue-green veins of mold throughout the interior and by a sharp, piquant flavor. Blue cheeses have probably been produced for a long time either deliberately or by accident before they were describe in writing.

Legend has it that the first mouldy cheese was discovered thousands of years ago when an absent-minded shepherd left his curds and bread in a cave while he was off chasing sheep.

The shepherd returned to find a moldy sandwich but was so hungry he ate it anyway. Since then, moldy cheeses such Roquefort, Gorgonzola, English Stilton and Danish blue have been developed by Europeans into gourmet fare.

Gorgonzola was the first Bleu-veined cheese to be mentioned in the literature, in 879, while Roquefort was describe in customs papers in 1070. Gorgonzola originated when an innkeeper in the Valsassina area, stored stracchino cheese in his cellar for a bit too long, and some developed a blue mould. He served regardless to the local cheesemakers who loved it and copied his method.

Stilton was not mentioned until the 17th century. It was Britain’s most famous blue cheese, named after the town of Stilton, where a busy stagecoach station on the Great North Road the enterprising landlord of the Bell Inn sold the cheese to appreciate travelers.

In Denmark, the production of Danablu and Mycella, Blue Cheeses from cow’s milk started in the 1870s. Denmark is known for its Danish blues or Danablu. This cheese was invented by Marius Boel, who wanted to create a blue cheese that as similar to Roquefort.

Although Boel started with this French cheese as model, the resulting Danish blue, is entirely different. Another Danish blue cheese is Bla Castello, which was developed in the 1960s.

In 1937 Experimentation Station of Iowa State University developed a process for making blue cheese from homogenized milk, which became the standard for the blue cheese industry and was used by the Fred and Robert Maytag to produce their Maytag Blue Cheese.

The earliest makers of blue cheese used bread to begin production of the distinctive mold and then waited patiently for the veins of mold to grow and spreads naturally between the curd.
History and origin of Blue cheese

History of cheese industry in United States

Cheese and butter factories were born in the United States a country with no cheese-making tradition, just 70 years after revolution.

When the Pilgrims voyaged to America in 1620, they made sure that the Mayflower was stocked with cheese. It came together with its cargo of goats.

Cheese making in North America and specifically in the United States, remained a farmhouse process throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

In 1841, Anne Pickett established Wisconsin’s first cheese factory. In 1851 an entrepreneur Jesse William had built the New York’s first cheese factory near Rome, Oneida County, New York and introduced production in a grand scale. He revolutionized commercial cheese making. The ‘factory’ was simply his farm. He had a reputation for making exceptional cheese, so his neighbors would send him their milk so that he could make cheese for them.

Williams regulated the timing as well as the temperature for converting milk to curds, regardless of volume. By combining the milk and producing large cheeses, he could achieve a uniform taste and texture.

During the early part of the year 1860, Samuel Perry, of New York City, a native of Herkimer, and one of the earliest operators in the cheese trade, endeavored to control the market, purchasing the great bulk of cheese manufactured in the country. In 1867, Robert McAdam introduced the English Cheddar system in a factory near Herkimer, New York. This introduction made Herkimer County famous for its cheese.

For many years during this period, the largest cheese market in world as at Little Falls, New York. By 1875 there were more than 500 cheese factories in New York State alone.

The industry moved westward, centering on the rich farmlands of Wisconsin, where the American cheese industry really took off.

In 1878, a German immigrant named Julius Wettstein started a cheese factory in Monroe, New York, where he produced a fine line of German, French and Swiss types that were traded over the entire length of the Erie Canal.
History of cheese industry in United States

Cottage cheese process in history

Cottage cheese is a soft unripened, mildly acid cheese. After milk has soured, it solidifies into a wet mass called ‘clabbered milk’ which leaves behind the curds as the liquid (whey) drops away.

Sometimes this process is hastened by the addition of rennet. Cottages cheese is the product of one of the first stages of the process.

Cottage cheese moistly likely originated for the following reasons:
*A ready supply of a raw material that was often otherwise wasted – skim milk
*The process of converting skim milk into a cheese was simple – place milk in a pot on the back of the warm stove top in the kitchen or cottage.
*the flavor can be enhanced by dressing with whole milk or cream

Many authors state that this cottage cheese originated in Britain, because it is widespread in all-Anglo-Saxon countries. The name ‘cottage’ is related to its origin as a cheese typical of towns and villages.

Its industrial production began in the United States around 1916, and it became a very popular type of cheese, representing about 8% of the total cheese production in the United States.

The cheese industry was born when Mr. and Mrs. Charles of Tigard manufacture and sell this new product that they had mastered – creamed cottage cheese.
Cottage cheese process in history

History of ricotta cheese processing

Ricotta cheese is a soft, bland, semisweet cheese that originated in Italy. It is a whey cheese of the Mediterranean area, prepared traditionally by heating whey from sheep or goat milk in open kettle. Cheese production is one of the oldest forms of biotechnology, dating perhaps from 6000 BC and was well established during the era of the Roman Empire.

The Bronze Age milk boilers were elegantly designed to limit frothing and boiling, thus they appear to have been tailor made for producing acid/heat coagulated cheese from milk.

Milk boilers were ingenious ceramic vessels that were used to limit frothing and boiling over when heating milk to high temperatures during the making of acid/heat-coagulated (ricotta –type) cheeses.

The ancient Greeks created cheesecakes with ricotta cheeses as one of the main ingredients. The cheese was combined with wheat flour and honey and pounded to a paste-like and smooth consistency. During the first Olympic games that happened in Greece in 776 BC, the athletes ate cheesecakes which provide them with the energy they needed for several rigorous competition.

The gourmet Columella explained the curd-making process; the poet Varro summarized the digestibility of regional cheeses. Athenaeus, writing around 200 AD, admired Sicily’s ‘tender’ cheese, a possible reference to ricotta, which was made by boiling whey with whole sheep’s milk and straining the curds through a basket.

Originally, ricotta cheese was produced from whey derived from mozzarella or provolone cheese production, Ricotta now prepared from whole milk or without addition of whey.
History of ricotta cheese processing