Hard cheese types: names, sorts and traditions of serving

The ancient Slavic tradition did not know hard cheeses. Milk was simply left to sour, cottage cheese was thrown back and hung to drain the whey, and then the mass was kept in the saline solution. Thus, it turned out cheese. It is also very tasty and useful, especially the voor - soft cheese from the colostrum. Sometimes the head was dried, and the cheese was hard and crumbly. But it's not about her now. Let's talk about what kinds of cheese are hard, how to distinguish between them and what to serve.

In Europe and in Russia

But in Western Europe , cheese of solid sorts has long been known. Its names are very numerous. It was done in two ways - cooked or dried, but in both cases a special rennet was added . This substance, which helps the milk to properly ferment, forming cheese, is produced by the stomach of the newborn. Previously, the shepherds, cutting their calf or lamb to drink milk, cut it. The contents of the stomach-abomasum-were leavened by the rest of the herd. Now this enzyme is produced synthetically.

In Russia, solid sorts of cheese, the names of which we will quote later, came with Peter I, more precisely, with the Swiss imported to the tsar. Therefore, we began to make this product according to the Alpine technology. So far, the so-called "Swiss cheese" - with large holes - is very popular among Russians. True, his Soviet counterpart came out with very small, slit-eyed eyes. It is understandable: Russian cows do not graze in alpine meadows, cheese at milk processing plants was made according to Soviet GOST, and not according to Swiss technologies, so the product was more similar to the sole of the shoe than to something edible.

Solid cheeses - Swiss names

These are, first of all, semi-solid species. "Olterman" and "Tet de Muan". But there are extra-farms - "Sbrants", for example. Here you need to make a small digression and tell a little about the technologies. What is the difference between solid, semi-sub-subspecies and so-called fresco? Only the time of aging. Just like wine, the cheese ripens, becoming harder to the touch with age, spicy and spicy to taste, fragrant and expensive at a price. The product with a monthly exposure contains 67% of the liquid, in the semi-farms it is 54%, and in the solid form - 49-50%.

Hard cheese varieties - names in Holland, Italy, France, Spain

The four countries mentioned are the acknowledged leaders in the production of delicious products. In England, only one kind of cheese has won world popularity. This is cheddar. Together with the British immigrants, he migrated overseas and became an integral ingredient for the American burger. Holland also specializes in "sandwich" varieties: maasdam, eddam, gouda cuts well and eat well with bread. Their taste is gentle, somewhat straightforward. In a word, such cheeses are not worthy to be served in the evening on a special plate to dessert. It's cheeses for breakfast.

In France, Mecca of gourmets, mostly prized moldy species. But even there they use   Solid grades of cheese - the names of "Conte", "Gruyer", "Mimolette" and "Cantal" in everyone's ear. Basically, they are used for cheese plates and for cooking casseroles - gratens. In Italy there are world famous "Parmigiano Reggiano", "Grana Padano" and savory "Pecorino". Unservedly, the very tasty Spanish hard cheeses "Idiasabal", "Mahon", "Manchego" and "El Pastor" remain in the shade.