The Delicious Science of CHEESE!

Summary

This script explores the fascinating science behind cheese, often considered mankind's oldest food produced by science. It delves into the accidental origins of cheese, the four core ingredients needed for its production, and the process of making it. The video visits a cheese shop in Austin to learn from a cheese expert, discussing the different types of cheeses, their textures, and the role of molds and bacteria in aging. It highlights how the environment affects the final taste and texture, making cheese a delightful blend of science, art, and microbial magic.

Takeaways

• 🧀 Cheese is considered one of mankind's oldest foods, possibly predating beer.
• 🔍 The origin of cheese is believed to be accidental, discovered by a Middle Eastern goat herder who stored milk in an animal's stomach sack, which turned the milk solid.
• 🍲 Rennet is a key ingredient in cheese-making, providing the milk with body and helping to separate curds from whey.
• 🥛 The basic process of making cheese involves four core ingredients: milk, cultures, rennet, and salt.
• 🔪 The size of curds cut during cheese-making affects the final texture of the cheese, with larger curds resulting in softer cheese and smaller curds in harder, drier varieties.
• 🧈 Fresh cheeses are characterized by their white color and lack of rind development, examples include feta.
• 🧈 Semi-soft cheeses have a lower melting point and are good for grilled cheese, while firm cheeses like cheddar and Gruyère have a higher melting point but may still be creamy.
• 🧀 Hard cheeses are often used for grating or in recipes, and their aging process can be significantly influenced by the environment, including native molds and bacteria.
• 🍄 Bloomy rinded cheeses use a specific mold, penicillium candidum, either mixed with the milk or sprayed on the cheese's exterior.
• 🍽️ Washed rind cheeses utilize bacteria, such as brevibacterium linens found in beer, which can impart a meaty flavor to the cheese.
• 🧫 The aging environment of cheese plays a crucial role in its final taste and texture, with different regions having unique native molds and bacteria that affect the cheese.

Q & A

What is suggested to be mankind's oldest food produced by science?

Cheese is suggested to be mankind's oldest food produced by science, potentially predating beer.

How did cheese originally come into existence?

Cheese is believed to have been discovered accidentally by a Middle Eastern goat herder who stored milk in an animal's stomach sack, which turned the milk solid.

What is rennet and its role in cheese making?

Rennet is one of the four core ingredients in making cheese and it gives body to the milk, helping to separate the curds from the whey.

What are the four essential ingredients required to make any cheese?

The four essential ingredients required to make any cheese are milk, cultures, rennet, and salt.

How does the size of curd cutting affect the texture of the cheese?

The size of curd cutting affects the texture of the cheese; larger curds result in a softer cheese, while smaller curds lead to a harder, drier cheese like Parmesan.

What are the different styles of cheese mentioned in the script?

The different styles of cheese mentioned are fresh cheeses, semi-soft cheeses, firm cheeses, and hard cheeses.

How does the aging environment affect the taste and texture of cheese?

The aging environment has a significant impact on the taste and texture of cheese due to the presence of native molds and bacteria that interact with the cheese.

What is the role of penicillium candidum in cheese?

Penicillium candidum is a strain of mold used in the production of bloomy rinded cheeses, contributing to their texture and flavor.

What is the significance of washed rind cheeses and how are they made?

Washed rind cheeses are made by applying bacteria, such as brevibacterium linens found in beer, to the rind during aging, which imparts a meaty flavor and aroma.

How is blue cheese made and what gives it its characteristic blue veins?

Blue cheese is made by introducing penicillium mold into the cheese, which requires oxygen to grow. The cheesemakers create passageways in the cheese by needling it, allowing the mold to form the blue veins.

What is the relationship between the history of cheese and biotechnology?

Cheese is considered one of the first biotechnologies, as it involves the use of microorganisms to transform milk into cheese, dating back 8,000 years.

Outlines

00:00

🧀 The Science of Cheese Making

The paragraph introduces the ancient and scientific process behind cheese making, suggesting that cheese might be one of mankind's oldest produced foods. It humorously challenges the notion that the wheel is the most important invention, proposing cheese instead. The narrator visits a cheese shop in Austin to learn from a cheese expert named Kara about the science of cheese. The discussion covers the accidental discovery of cheese by a Middle Eastern goat herder, the four core ingredients needed to make cheese (milk, cultures, rennet, and salt), and the process of turning milk into cheese through heating, adding cultures for fermentation, adding rennet to separate curds from whey, and cutting the curds to determine the cheese's texture. The paragraph also explains the categorization of cheese into styles such as fresh, semi-soft, firm, and hard, and how aging and environmental factors influence the final taste and texture of the cheese.

05:01

🍽 Exploring Cheese Varieties and Aging

This paragraph delves into the different types of cheese and their unique characteristics, focusing on how aging and the environment affect the final product. It discusses various cheese styles, including bloomy rinded cheeses with penicillium candidum mold, washed rind cheeses with a bacterial wash that imparts a meaty flavor, and blue cheeses that feature oxygen-dependent penicillium mold. The paragraph highlights the importance of the aging environment, using the example of roquefort cheese, which changes dramatically depending on whether it's aged in French caves or elsewhere. The narrator and Kara also touch on the use of beer by trappist monks to wash their cheeses during lent, creating a distinct flavor profile. The paragraph concludes with a celebration of cheese as an 8,000-year-old food, the first biotechnology, and a delightful combination of science, art, and microbial magic.

Keywords

💡Cheese

Cheese is a dairy product made from milk and is one of the oldest forms of food produced by humans, as mentioned in the script. It is a versatile food that comes in a wide variety of flavors and textures, which is a central theme of the video. The script discusses the history, production, and types of cheese, highlighting its significance in human culture and cuisine.

💡Rennet

Rennet is a key ingredient in the cheese-making process, as highlighted in the script. It is an enzyme that coagulates milk proteins, causing the milk to separate into curds and whey, which is essential for cheese formation. The script explains that rennet is derived from the stomach lining of animals and is crucial for giving body to the milk, thus playing a vital role in cheese production.

💡Cultures

Cultures refer to the beneficial bacteria used in the fermentation process of cheese, as well as other foods like bread and yogurt. In the context of the video, cultures initiate the lacto-fermentation process in milk, which is similar to how yeast ferments bread. This process is essential for developing the flavor and texture of various types of cheese.

💡Curds

Curds are the solid part of milk that is separated from the liquid whey during the cheese-making process, as described in the script. The formation of curds is a result of the coagulation process initiated by rennet. The size of the curds determines the texture of the final cheese product, with smaller curds leading to a firmer cheese and larger curds resulting in a softer cheese.

💡Whey

Whey is the liquid byproduct that is separated from the curds during cheese production, as mentioned in the script. It is a nutrient-rich liquid that contains proteins, lactose, minerals, and vitamins. Whey is often used in other food products or as an ingredient in animal feed, showcasing the versatility of milk components in food production.

💡Semi-soft Cheese

Semi-soft cheese is a category of cheese that bends before it breaks, as described in the script. These cheeses have a lower melting point, making them ideal for applications like grilled cheese sandwiches. Examples given in the script include certain types of cheddar and gruyere, which are known for their meltability and flavor.

💡Firm Cheese

Firm cheese, as discussed in the script, is a category of cheese that will break rather than bend. These cheeses have a firmer texture and may still have a melt-in-your-mouth quality. They often include a variety of cheddar and Swiss cheeses, which are popular for their distinct flavors and textures.

💡Hard Cheese

Hard cheese, as mentioned in the script, is a category of cheese that is often used for grating or in recipes. These cheeses are typically aged longer, resulting in a harder texture and a more concentrated flavor. Examples include Parmesan and Parmigiano-Reggiano, which are known for their longevity and strong, savory taste.

💡Bloomy Rinded Cheese

Bloomy rinded cheese is a type of cheese characterized by a soft, white rind that is covered in a bloom of mold, specifically penicillium candidum, as explained in the script. This type of cheese is known for its creamy texture and mild flavor. The bloomy rind is intentionally cultivated by the cheesemaker, either by mixing the mold into the milk or spraying it onto the cheese.

💡Washed Rind Cheese

Washed rind cheese is a category of cheese where the exterior is washed with a liquid, often brine or even beer, during the aging process. This practice, as described in the script, encourages the growth of bacteria like brevibacterium linens, which imparts a strong, meaty flavor and aroma to the cheese. Washed rind cheeses are known for their pungent smell and rich taste.

💡Aging Environment

The aging environment is crucial for the development of flavor and texture in cheese, as highlighted in the script. The script mentions that the same recipe of Roquefort cheese will taste different when aged in different locations due to the unique molds and bacteria present in each environment. This concept underscores the terroir aspect of cheese, where the cheese's characteristics are influenced by the specific conditions of its production environment.

Highlights

Cheese might represent mankind's oldest produced food by science, possibly predating beer.

The science behind cheese is complex due to the many different ways it's made.

Cheese's origins are shrouded in mystery, with legends suggesting it was discovered accidentally by a Middle Eastern goat herder.

Rennet, found in animal stomachs, is crucial for turning milk into cheese by acting like a gelatin.

The first step in cheese making is heating milk and adding cultures to start the lacto-fermentation process.

Rennet is added to separate the curds from the whey, determining the texture of the cheese.

The size of curd cutting influences the cheese's final texture, with larger curds resulting in softer cheese.

Salting the cheese is essential for flavor and preservation, and it's typically done after the curds have been cut and the whey has been drained.

Fresh cheeses like feta have a perfectly white color and are an example of the youngest category of cheese.

Semi-soft cheeses have a lower melting point and are ideal for grilled cheese sandwiches.

Firm cheeses like cheddar and gruyere break rather than bend and have a melt-in-your-mouth quality.

Hard cheeses are often used in recipes and for grating, and they are typically aged longer.

Bloomy rinded cheeses use penicillium candidum mold to develop a soft, edible rind.

Washed rind cheeses are treated with bacteria, often from beer, giving them a meaty flavor and strong aroma.

The aging environment, including native molds and bacteria, greatly affects the taste and texture of the cheese.

Blue cheese gets its characteristic veins from the oxygen-dependent penicillium mold that grows within the cheese.

Cheese is an 8,000-year-old food, considered our first biotechnology, and a delicious accident of nature.

Cheesemongering is a fun and engaging job that combines science, art, and the magic of microbes.

Transcripts

When people say the wheel is the most important invention in human history, I like to think

they're talking about cheese.

[MUSIC] After bread, cheese might represent mankind's

oldest produced by science.

Maybe even predating beer.

Problem is, there are so many different cheeses made in so many different ways that figuring

out the science behind this ancient food is enough to turn your brain into a gooey gooey

melty mess.

So today, I'm heading over to my favorite cheese shop in Austin to see if we can eat

our way to some knowledge.

I'm here with Kara, our friendly neighborhood cheese expert to find out a little bit more

about the science of cheese.

How's it going?

Feeling fantastic how are you doing?

I'm so happy to brie here.

Well it seems like for as long as people have been drinking milk, they've been eating cheese.

So, where did cheese start?

Documentation, kinda doesn't go as far back as cheese does.

But the original recipe, as legend has it, is actually an accident, as some of the great

food discoveries tend to be, right?

Middle eastern goat herder who was traveling across this kind of dry airy desert tried

to store his milk in the stomach sack of actually one of the animals they had butchered, like

a canteen.

Unfortunately when he went to drink it later, it was solid.

I say unfortunately for him.

For us, obviously it was very fortunate because that's how we kind of learned that milk can

turn solid and start to discover how.

Yeah, I think that worked out pretty well for us.

Yeah, I'd say so, yeah.

Is there something special about an animal stomach that turns milk into cheese?

Rennet.

Rennet is one of the four core ingredients in making cheese.

And is really what gives body to the milk.

So the stomach lining serves kind of as a, sort of akin to gelatin.

Let's say I've got a glass of milk, and I want to turn it into cheese.

What's the first step?

So four ingredients are necessary in making any cheese.

You already got your first one if you got your milk.

You want to heat up the milk.

And then you add in cultures.

And cultures are essentially going to start that lacto-fermentation process.

The same way that yeast derives that fermentation process of the bread base, those cultures

do the same for the milk.

And then you start to add in that rennet.

And the rennet is what's going to give you the solids versus liquids.

So it's going to separate the curds from the whey.

As soon as you have that texture, you're cutting the curds.

And that's the first big decision.

How big do you cut them?

Because the more surface area on each curd, the more its going to kind of wash out that

whey.

So if you want a softer cheese, you're going to cut the curds a bit larger.

If you want to make something like a parmesan or parmigiano or something you're going to

really age out, you want it to be dry, you're going to go small.

And then you're going to kind of, as soon as it's sturdy enough, season your cheese.

And that's the salt.

And those are really the four ingredients you need to make any cheese.

Alright so here we have our seven styles of cheese.

And this is just how we talk about cheese here, it's our vocabulary so people kind of

feel at ease with chattin' cheese, right?

So we're going to start fresh with fresh cheeses.

Color and rinds develop with age, so you just have a perfectly white cheese right here that's

really just a beautiful example of a feta or a fresh cheese.

Alright, so down here we have kind of the middle grouping of cheeses.

The semi-soft cheese, those are the ones that are really going to bend before they break.

Lower melting points, so these are your grilled cheese cheeses.

Firm cheeses, those are going to definitely break, not bend, but they may still have a

nice melt-in-your-mouth quality here.

So these are going to include a lot of the cheddars out there, a lot of the gruyeres,

swiss cheeses, things like that.

And then we have our hard cheeses, often considered recipe cheeses or grating cheeses.

If you ask me, all cheese is great.

Cheesy jokes.

So then once you've got your cheese and you're setting it to age, there are certain molds

and bacteria in any environment, there are millions and trillions around us right now

right, that are going to affect this very pore surface that is cheese.

These are the cheeses that really use molds and bacteria in the make process itself.

So starting towards the younger end of things we have these bloomy rinded cheeses.

What's happening here is there is this one strain of mold called penicillium candidum.

And the cheesemaker is either mixing it in with a milk or actually spraying the exterior

of the formed cheese with this mold.

So next here we'll go over to these washed rinds.

Now this is where you're using bacteria instead of mold.

The trappist monks were kind of the first people making washed rind cheeses.

During the lent where they were abstaining from eating meat, they would take their beers

and use them to wash their cheeses.

Bacteria that lived in the beer itself called brevibacterium linens gives you a very very

meaty sort of flavor.

So this one's really soft.

Mhm, and definitely smell this one.

So this is where you're going to get those funky flavors there.

Funky aromas.

I can smell the beer in this.

It's like...

Totally.

The environment in which you're aging has a huge deal to do with what the cheese is

going to end up tasting like and feeling like.

You can make roquefort cheese in the caves of France, and if you try to make the same

recipe with your cheese from over in California, it's going to be wildly different because

you just don't have the same aging environment.

There aren't the same native sort of molds and bacteria.

So that's what we see in blue cheese?

Is it a fungus that's in there?

It's a mold.

It's a penicillium.

This type of penicillium needs oxygen in order to bloom into blue.

So what they're doing is creating these passageways.

These lines you see here are where they needled the cheese and you can see these little dots

on top too.

And you can see they actually poked holes in the cheese during the aging process.

You should sell this as a perfume.

Just like a little bit under...

Just like, a little ode to blue cheese.

This smells so good.

Okay.

So there you have it, an 8,000 year old food.

Our first biotechnology.

Nature's most delicious accident.

It's half science, half art, half microbial magic.

But cheese is all delicious.

You have the best job ever.

It's a pretty good job, I'm not going to lie.

Cheesemonger, fun word, fun job.

Stay curious.