Lesson Time

Today on A Cheese A Day, we'll take a little break from the cheese reviews to give you a small bit of information about how cheese is made.

Although each type of cheese is made according to its own detailed recipe, there are a number of broad techniques and methods that all cheesemakers follow, regardless of the kind of cheese they’re making.

Like beer, love, and other mysteries, chemical reactions create cheese. This involves sugars, proteins, enzymes, and many other things you forget from high school biology class.

It’s not so difficult to understand, really. All cheese starts with some mammal’s milk, the fresher the better. From there, it is all about “controlled spoilage,” as the great cheese writer Steven Jenkins put it. Or, if you prefer Miss Muffett, minding your curds and whey.

Want to know how cheese is made? Click here to read more.