What Is Pungent Cheese?

Simply because an ingredient or dish is polarizing doesn’t imply it’s not price your time. As a baby I didn’t like mushrooms — their considerably slippery texture will be off-putting — however studying to like them through the years has opened up new alternatives to take pleasure in a meaty, umami-packed, and versatile ingredient. What would I do with out buttery mushroom pastas and crispy fried fungi in my life now?

Among the many world of misunderstood components, maybe none is as famend pungent cheeses. Taleggio, Limburger, Époisses, raclette, and Gruyère are all styles of this pungent class of dairy merchandise. Whereas their funky, earthy aromas might make it troublesome to attempt them at first, their scent reveals extremely advanced, scrumptious, and sometimes milder flavors beneath. 

In a latest episode of the podcast Pizza Quest with baker, creator, and bread professional Peter Reinhart, the host sat down with fellow meals fanatic Mark Todd, typically referred to as “the cheese dude,” to study all concerning the fascinating manufacturing course of and historical past of pungent cheeses. As Todd’s nickname implies, he has consulted for the Wisconsin Milk Advertising Board, the U.S. Dairy Export Council, and the California Milk Advisory Board about what he loves most: cheese. So who higher to elucidate the nuanced background behind these funky cheeses — and probably persuade you to attempt one?

Pungent cheeses are literally known as washed-rind cheeses

I remorse to tell you that this style of dairy merchandise isn’t formally titled “pungent cheeses.” The right time period for these fragrant delicacies is “washed-rind cheeses,” which factors to the distinctive course of that makes them. 

Todd begins out by noting that the manufacturing of those cheeses is so intricate, “the meals science that goes on inside washed-rind cheeses might be second solely to the Maillard response so far as the complexity of the chemistry that goes on on the floor of that cheese.” However to provide a really temporary overview, as these cheeses mature, their rind is commonly washed with a brine. Some might often be rinsed with different liquids like wine or beer, however a salt water resolution is the most typical.

Whereas this brine can forestall the expansion of mildew, it does encourage the cultivation of sure micro organism, the most typical of which is Brevibacterium linens. Todd notes that it’s “Brevibacteria that causes that orange rind” — an indicator of many washed-rind cheeses, which you’ll typically acknowledge by their orange-colored exterior — in addition to their distinct scent and funky taste.

Washed-rind cheeses have a protracted historical past

Diving into the historical past of washed-rind cheeses, which dates again so far as the seventh century, provides much more perception into how they’re made. Todd explains the story of the primary pungent cheeses, saying “There’s debate as as to if it was an accident or an intention, however mainly a Benedictine monk within the Alsace-Lorraine area, doing his diligence of attempting to maintain mildew off the cheese, would take his little wash — which was both alcohol, like [diluted] beer or wine… or salt water, or each, and rub the cheeses to maintain the mildew off. 

“He seen that mildew was coming again on one, so he would scrub it and scrub it and scrub it. Three or 4 days later, the mildew’s again. So he would scrub it once more. And god, this one… wouldn’t stop, and it molded once more and it molded once more. 

“And concerning the fifth time it molded, he had stored the cheese so moist together with his cleansing that it inspired totally different micro organism utterly to develop on the surface of the cheese due to the moist atmosphere. That had not occurred earlier than. And this younger monk went to his boss and stated… ‘Hey, boss. Come right here…’ And the boss stated, ‘Dude, you made it. You style it.’ And the following [thing] you realize, it is all historical past after that.”

If the monk hadn’t washed the mildew off of this cheese, it might have develop into one thing extra just like a Brie, which is roofed in white mildew because it matures, however finally ends up with a a lot milder taste than its washed-rind cousins. Though there are all kinds of washed-rind cheeses — they’re not all mushy, small wheels like an Époisses, which appears to be like strikingly just like a Brie, and a few are fairly laborious equivalent to Gruyère — this comparability does a very good job of demonstrating how a lot funk and aroma micro organism can contribute.

Sure, you possibly can eat the rind

Don’t let the phrase “micro organism” scare you, the rinds of those pungent cheeses are completely effective to eat. Whereas tasting a wide range of Taleggio with “the cheese dude,” Pizza Quest host Peter Reinhart exclaims that though the inside of the cheese is mushy and flavorful, the rind “is on one other stage altogether.” Todd says it’s because “the tremendous advanced meals chemistry happening, that rind is the place it is occurring.” For a agency washed-rind cheese like Gruyère, it could be bodily tougher to eat the rind as a result of it is laborious, however you continue to can if you would like.

Contemplate this a pleasant reminder you can really eat the rinds of most cheeses — simply keep away from any which might be coated in wax or fabric. In fact, if you happen to nonetheless don’t need to eat the rind on a pungent cheese, you can too trim it off — however each Todd and Reinhart say it might be a waste, particularly if you wish to style the complete taste potential of a washed-rind cheese.