ECS. Cheesemaking

Cheesemaking

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  • Quickly read the text to answer the questions:

    • *What was the earliest method of cheese production? * Is it used today?
    * What is used nowadays to speed the separation process? * Are all variety of cheese cured?
    * What is curing? * Why are blue-mould spores introduced into some cheese?

  • Find the definition of the following words in the text. Do not use your dictionary!
    • 1. Curd
    		 2. whey
    		 3. curing
    4. mature
    		 5. eyes
    		 6. rennet
  • Read the text. Don't use your dictionary to check the meaning of unfamiliar words.

    • To sour a raw or pasteurized milk should be left in a warm place. As a result curd, a thick precipitate, and a thin watery residue called whey are produced. In the earliest method of cheesemaking after curd and whey were separated, the former was pressed. In addition to protein curd contains most of the milk values: butterfat, minerals, vitamins and sugar.

    Nowadays a rennet, which is an acid starter, must be added to speed the separation process. After the curd and whey are separated, the curd is pressed, shaped and salted to enhance flavour. After that it is cured, or aged. Not all cheeses are cured, for example cottage and farm cheeses are not.

    To cure the cheese is stored under temperature and humidity- controlled conditions for varying length of time. Different cheeses require different curing time. The longer the cheese is stored the more mature it becomes and the more pronounced flavour it has. During curing the gases that are trying to escape form the holes, or eyes. The Swiss cheese, for example, traditionally has eyes.

    To aid the curing process some cheeses are sprayed with blue-mould (Roquefort) or white-mould (Brie) spores that form a rind. This rind can be eaten or washed with whey or brine.

    The text is based on "Cheese," Microsoft® Encarta® 96 Encyclopedia. 1993-1995 Microsoft Corporation
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  • Complete the sentences. Type the answer in the text-box and then click outside it.
    • 1. The holes ________ by gases that are unable to escape. 2. Cheese _______________________ from the milk of cows, ewes and goats. 3. Nowadays we prefer to use ___________ to _________ the separation process.
    4. Butterfat, minerals, sugar, and vitamins ________________ in curd in addition to protein. 5. To cure the cheese _____________________ under temperature- and humidity-controlled conditions. 6. The cheese manufacturers spray __________ or __________ to aid the curing process.
    7. You have _____ __an acid "starter". 8. We may eat ___________ if we prefer to. 9. Separate curd from _________________.

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