Making Artisan Cheese (6 page)

Raw milk is revered among cheese makers because of the complex and delicious flavorings it brings to cheese made from it, but it must be collected under sanitary conditions to prevent possible pathogens from entering the cheese.

Forms of Milk

Milk comes in many different forms; some are suitable for cheese making, and others, not so well suited. Here is a quick summary.

Raw Milk

In the cheese-making world, raw or unpasteurized milk is seen as the gold standard. The reason for this is that raw milk contains all of the microflora and enzymes that the animal has ingested from grazing in its own unique terroir. In essence, it could be said that raw-milk cheeses are the direct descendants of the cheese makers of antiquity. Questions are often raised about food safety and raw milk, but it is generally agreed that raw milk is safe to consume if it is kept clean. Indeed, if any foreign microorganism is introduced into the milk, it would have a noticeable negative consequence on the resulting cheese, taking the form of bloating, off flavors, and off aromas.

If raw-milk cheeses are your preference, it is best to buy your raw milk from a known and trusted source. The regulations regarding the buying and selling of raw milk vary by state and are tightly controlled. A specific listing can be found in the Resources section of this book (see
page 172
).

Most forms of milk, including everything from raw to pasteurized milk, homogenized and even nonfat powdered dry milk, are acceptable for making select cheeses. The notable exception is Ultra Heat-Treated milk (UHT), which is packaged in sealed boxes and stocked on grocery shelves at room temperature.

Terroir can best be described as the soul of a particular spot on earth. Each terroir is unique, and is one explanation for the different characteristic flavors of regional cheeses.

At the time this book is being written, raw milk is legally sold in the United States in twenty-eight out of fifty states. In an additional five states, raw milk can be sold for animal consumption, under which one could imply that humans are animals. The other option to explore is a cow-share program. This is a system in which a group of consumers pay a farmer a fee for boarding, feeding, and milking their cows (or share of a cow). The cow-share owner then obtains, but does not purchase, milk from his or her own cow. Think of this as a time share in the bovine world (without the telemarketers), and you get the idea.

The advantage of raw milk:
It’s a full-flavored milk that produces rich-flavored cheeses.

The disadvantage of raw milk:
Raw milk is not easy to find, and in some areas may be impossible to find.

Food Safety and Raw Milk Cheeses

Is it safe to make and eat raw-milk cheese? This is question that continually comes up, so let’s look at a few of the major points.

Is pasteurized milk safer to use than raw milk? Any milk whether raw or pasteurized has a relatively neutral pH, which makes it a perfect host for pathogenic bacteria. Pasteurization will assure that the milk you use is free of any pathogen
before
you use it. If your equipment is not sterilized, however, your cheese could be open to contamination from a pathogen. The bottom line is that no milk is absolutely safe; there is always potential for problems with either raw or pasteurized milk.

Are all pasteurized cheeses safer than raw milk cheeses? Not necessarily. Fresh cheeses and soft-ripened cheeses, because of their high moisture content and high pH, could pose potential problems for food safety whether they are pasteurized or not. Aged cheeses, any cheeses that are aged over sixty days, are safe, whether they’re made with raw milk or pasteurized.

The most important thing to remember in all of this is that cheese is a stable food that poses little health risk as long as the basic rules of sanitation are followed.

Pasteurized Milk

Pasteurization is the process of heat-treating milk as a way of killing off any potentially harmful bacteria or pathogens that could be in the milk. Before World War II, there were virtually no cheeses made from pasteurized milk. Pasteurization became a necessity for two reasons. First, the long-distance transportation of milk to cheese factories made contamination a possibility. Second, milk from a variety of places could lead to variances in the milk flavor, which would ultimately lead to differences in flavor of the cheese produced. A cheese could potentially taste different depending on the source of milk in each batch. For the small cheese maker, this variation could be considered normal. For the larger producer, where consistency is the key to success, it could lead to disaster. To avoid inconsistency, the factories used pasteurization as one of several methods to assure that milk had, and still has, a consistent flavor profile.

There are two methods of pasteurization. The standard method used by the majority of commercial cheese makers and virtually all dairy companies, is called High Temperature Short Hold, or HTSH. Using this method, milk is heated to 158°F to 162°F (70°C–72°C) for fifteen seconds and then rapidly cooled down to a stable 45°F to 55°F (7°C–13°C). HTSH presents one major problem. The high heat kills virtually all bacteria in the milk—both helpful and potentially harmful. For this reason, it is necessary to introduce bacteria strains into HTSH-pasteurized milk when making cheese. The added bacteria will bring flavor to the cheese but cannot replicate the complexities that nature provides in raw milk.

An alternative form of pasteurization, which is called Low Temperature Long Hold, or LTLH, uses less heat (135°F to 155°F [58°C–68°C]) but a longer time, holding the milk at the maximum temperature for a full thirty minutes. For an artisan cheese maker, LTLH is the preferred method of pasteurization because some flavor-enhancing enzymes and bacteria will survive the process. Another major issue with HTST-pasteurization is that it destroys all of the enzymes found in milk, one of them being lactase, which helps in aiding the digestion of milk. (See sidebar, “A Word on Lactose Intolerance,”
page 33
.)

The advantages of pasteurized milk:
It is readily available virtually everywhere, and the supply of this milk is consistent.

The disadvantages of pasteurized milk:
You will need to add calcium chloride during cheese making if the milk is homogenized. The milk is usually HTSH pasteurized, so it will have fewer enzymes, giving the milk a flatter taste.

Pasteurizing Your Milk at Home

The issue regarding pasteurized milk and cheese can get quite emotional at times. But the most important thing to remember is that we are all looking to safely produce good and flavorful cheeses. If you follow the general sanitation principals and use common sense you should be fine. In terms of your milk source, if you have access to raw milk and have concerns about the soundness of the milk, then by all means pasteurize. The easiest way to do it follows:

1.
Place the milk in a sterilized double boiler, and gradually raise the temperature to 145°F (66°C). Stir often so that the heat is distributed evenly. Keep the milk at a consistent temperature for thirty minutes. If you find that the temperature has dropped below the target point, you will have to raise the level and start the timing over again.

2.
At the end of thirty minutes, rapidly cool the milk. The most effective way of doing this is to set the milk pan into an ice-water bath. Do not use straight ice because it will not cool the milk fast enough. Again, stir frequently to ensure even cooling.

3.
Store in a clean, sanitized container in the refrigerator. The milk will last for two weeks.

Homogenized Milk

Homogenization is the process of breaking down the fat globules in milk to a size smaller than two micrometers. At that size, the forces of gravity do not affect the cells, so the cream will not rise to the surface of the milk. (Non-homogenized milk is also known as “cream-line” milk and is instantly recognizable by the thick layer of cream that settles at the top of the bottle.)

Homogenization is done by forcing milk through a series of small-gauge pipes at high pressure, which causes shearing of the fat globules. For a cheese maker, homogenized milk does present a problem in that the curd structure is softer and does not coagulate as easily as it does in milk that has not been homogenized. Nonetheless, it can be used for all cheese making, through the use of additional rennet and calcium chloride, a salt that absorbs moisture and aids in the development of the curds.

The advantages of homogenized milk:
It can be found everywhere and is suitable for virtually all cheese recipes.