Active Low-Carber Forums - View Single Post - [Montignac] Cooked Cheese ??? What is this?

Quote:

Cheese is, as we all know, is a fermented milk product made from the curds produced when milk is coagulated. Usually it is made from cow's milk but there are many varieties made from sheep's milk and goat's milk. Cheese can also be made from the milk of various other animals.

The basic principle involved in making all natural cheese is to coagulate or curdle the milk so that it forms into curds and whey. As anyone knows who has left milk un-refrigerated for a period, milk will curdle quite naturally. The milk sours and forms into an acid curd.

Today's methods help the curdling process by the addition of a starter (a bacterial culture which produces lactic acid) and rennet the coagulating enzyme which speeds the separation of liquids (whey) and solids (curds).

There are two basic categories of starter cultures. Mesophilic starter cultures have microbes that can not survive at high temperatures and thrive at room temperatures. Examples of cheeses made with these bacteria are Cheddar and Gouda. Thermophilic starter cultures are heat-loving bacteria. They are used when the curd is cooked to as high as 132oF. Examples of cheeses made from these bacteria are Swiss and Italian cheeses.

The definition of an "uncooked cheese" is one where the milk or curds are never heated beyond 37C

Curds are then pressed and moulded, stored or aged.

So essentially cooked cheese would include the cottage cheeses, Swiss and Italian cheeses that are either using the Thermophilic starter or use high heat in the process. Ricotta

for example actually means "re-cooked".

Rustspot replied to my question on the lowcarb forum, but I'm still a bit unsure of exactly which Swiss and Italian cheeses those would be?????? I don't even know why montignac would make such a differentiation (is that a word!!!) I would think specifiying a fat level would suffice