"Aged" Cheese
Posted: Wed Oct 21, 2009 6:08 amNow here's some information I don't believe you could live without!
Archeologists have uncovered the remains of cheese found in Egyptian tombs over 4,000 years old! Now, I know good cheese must be aged, but these Egyptian wranglers may just be stretchin’ it a bit. Did you know cheese takes up about 1/10 the volume of the milk required to produce it? Each week, the average American eats over a half pound of the stuff. Cheese was popular in ancient Greece and Rome, though milk and butter were not - probably because olive oil was made in abundance and without refrigeration, the climate of the Mediterranean would have readily spoiled milk and butter.
Cows fed on green plants and grass during the summer months, produce milk high in vitamin A content, giving cheese a naturally orange hue. Winter milk, taken from cows eating hay, contains adequate vitamin A, but is light in color and must be dyed to keep the public happy. The English folks in Cheddar, Cheshire, and Leicester, began adding annatto seed, carrot juice, and marigold petals, over 200 years ago, giving their famous cheeses a characteristic orange hue.
Best Wishes, Chuckwagon
Archeologists have uncovered the remains of cheese found in Egyptian tombs over 4,000 years old! Now, I know good cheese must be aged, but these Egyptian wranglers may just be stretchin’ it a bit. Did you know cheese takes up about 1/10 the volume of the milk required to produce it? Each week, the average American eats over a half pound of the stuff. Cheese was popular in ancient Greece and Rome, though milk and butter were not - probably because olive oil was made in abundance and without refrigeration, the climate of the Mediterranean would have readily spoiled milk and butter.
Cows fed on green plants and grass during the summer months, produce milk high in vitamin A content, giving cheese a naturally orange hue. Winter milk, taken from cows eating hay, contains adequate vitamin A, but is light in color and must be dyed to keep the public happy. The English folks in Cheddar, Cheshire, and Leicester, began adding annatto seed, carrot juice, and marigold petals, over 200 years ago, giving their famous cheeses a characteristic orange hue.
Best Wishes, Chuckwagon