nopa: food blog

Rind and all Caleb Taft • Jun 24, 2009 • Post A Comment

"A dinner which ends without cheese is like a beautiful woman with only one eye."

Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin

"S'il qui mange du fromage, s'il ne le fait, il enrage." (He who does not eat cheese will go mad.)

French proverb

In a previous occupation, I was a cheese monger, so no doubt this post will seem biased, but I wanted to say a few words about cheese rinds. Full disclosure: I am an unrepentant rind eater, and it pains me to see, night after night, the tasty, salty rinds go uneaten and returned, destined for our compost bin. Fresh cheeses, like the Farmer's and Ricotta Cheeses we make in-house, rely simply on the freshness of the milk, some acid (where commercial dairies would add a starter culture) and salt for flavor. Most other cheeses will have some sort of rind, which is generated during the curing and ageing process. These may take many different forms, depending on the cheese, and nearly all are edible. The few exceptions I make are for Parmesan (save ‘em for flavoring stocks) and other super-aged cheeses like gouda, and well as those coated with wax. All others should be fair game. The rinds are a deliberate part of the process, and are created primarily with the intent of ripening and preserving the cheese, while flavoring it secondarily.

We are introducing a couple cheeses from the relatively new Bohemian Creamery this week - simply beautiful handmade cheeses from Bodega Bay, striking interpretations of classic styles, with natural, sometimes craggy, rinds. I'd hate to see them in the compost.

Here are a few of the rinds you might find on our cheese plate:

-The bloomy rind of a soft-ripened cheese. Usually this rind is created with the fuzzy white molds Penicillium Candidum and P. Camemberti (yes, from the same family that gave us the antibiotic), added either to the milk or sprayed on the cheese after it is drained and formed. Other cultures, such as Geotrichum Candidum, may be added to deepen the flavors. All told, these cultures serve to soften the paste of the cheese from the outside in - often to the point of ooziness - while the Penicillia break down the proteins, contributing aromas reminiscent of truffles, garlic and mushrooms. These cheeses tend to be relatively heavily salted as well, as they are not relatively long-aged. All bries fall into this category, as well as the richer triple-crèmes, including one named for the aforementioned author of "The Physiology of Taste." Closer to home, you'll find cheeses by Andante Dairy and Goat's Leap in this category.

-The ruddy outside of washed rind cheeses. Like soft-ripened cheeses, washed rinds are made from the outside in. Here though, the primary culprit is Brevibacterium Linens, which is responsible for the color, texture and um, aroma of the rind. This is a very wide ranging category, running from mildly oniony in smell with a dry, grainy rind to a sticky, stinky, deeply colored rind. The character is dictated largely by the liquid used to bathe the rind: wine, marc or other distillates, beer or simply brine are the most common. Cowgirl Creamery's Red Hawk is a perfect example of this style, as is the Bo Poisse from Bohemian.

-The earthiness of natural rind cheeses. Another far-ranging style, mostly applied to semi-soft to firm cheeses which ripen from the inside out. Here, the ripening enzymes work anaerobically, having been added to the milk or curds at the outset. Under this broad definition, you'll find cheeses as divergent as Parmesan, Roquefort, and fine Cheddars. A couple of our local favorites would be Bellwether Farms' San Andreas and Matos Cheese Factory's St. George.

Posted by Caleb Taft on June 24, 2009 • Filed under From The Menu • Share: del.icio.us / StumbleUpon / Digg

Bohemian Creamery’s beautiful cheeses.