It seems wrong to me that most of what people now call cheese is not at all like what I think of as "real cheese". I have ended up making cheese and it is both fascinating, productive and tasty. While there are many "recipes" for cheeses, they are mainly focused on preparing the cheese for aging. These are often techniques, like washing the curd (gouda) or cheddaring (cheddar).
The aging part takes more work. I converted a 7.5 CU refrigerator using an Inkbird temp controller. That works surprisingly well. Currently I'm attempting to improve the humidity control with a humidity version of the Inkbird.
But highly recommended. I have everything I made (even the failures) with the exception of one of the first attempts.
> It seems wrong to me that most of what people now call cheese is not at all like what I think of as "real cheese"
Not sure at all what you’re referring to. Surely it’s not “american cheese”, which has been the punchline of obvious cheese jokes for decades. Or the powder in mac & cheese boxes, which is its own thing.
From where I stand, I see grocery stores in the USA stocking large varieties of cheddars, fontina, gouda… all “real cheese.”
There's a whole concept of "farmer's cheese"- quickly prepared from pressing whey, minimal preservation- intended for nearly immediate consumption. Cottage cheese, queso fresco, paneer, ricotta, are all examples... then of course you have brined cheeses... feta, etc...
In Europe, and at gourmet cheese stores, you get a slice from a wheel. It is alive, in the sense that it has not been "treated" to increase shelf life. A wheel of cheese is like a little biome or green house or garden in a bottle. The rind of the cheese is the wall. It allows the cheese to breathe, but in a way that preserves the life inside it. Once the wheel is cut, the bottle is broken, and while the cheese can be kept for a time, it will start to degrade. The humidity (~80-85 %) is important so the cheese does not dry out and it does not become a nice home for unwanted mold, bacteria and fungus. The temp of ~55 F is also important so that the little things can live but don't start over growing.
If it comes from a wheel where it was aged, almost any cheese is good - depending on your particular taste. The aged ones with crystals are great, especially Dutch ones, but "local" cheese is almost always wonderful.
I was in Colby, Wisconsin a couple of times and I found the local Colby cheese to be good. Many locally made cheese are good, but again if they are bagged in plastic then they do not compare with the "real" thing.
While I don't doubt that getting fresh cheese cut from the wheel is optimal, cheese bagged in plastic hasn't been "treated" to increase shelf life besides being put in plastic - which presumably also preserves the cheese at its existing humidity.
It's not like the act of putting cheese in plastic instantaneously alters it.
Until early adulthood the only cheese I really knew was kraft slices, kraft parmesan powder, bags of pre-shredded, etc. Literally buying cheese by the block turned my world upside down
I make cheese myself (both fresh and year-long aged ones) and virtually all the people I met knew what real cheese was.
If it is the "ultra-processed" cheese what you are referring to, that might not be liked by some but that's still cheese, regardless of its plastic-y feel.
This is something I’ve been curious about. Can you speak more about how you got into it? What kind of research did you do before getting started? Did you know anyone else who had done it before you got into it?
The aging part takes more work. I converted a 7.5 CU refrigerator using an Inkbird temp controller. That works surprisingly well. Currently I'm attempting to improve the humidity control with a humidity version of the Inkbird.
But highly recommended. I have everything I made (even the failures) with the exception of one of the first attempts.