BY ASHLEY CURRIE
Cheese comes in many forms and varieties including soft, spreadable cream cheeses, cheese dips, hard cheeses and even extra spicy ones.
Most people enjoy cheese, but it can sometimes be difficult to tell which cheeses are good for you and which ones you should avoid.
Luckily some of the best cheeses for you are favourites such as cheddar which has a particularly high calcium count, mozzarella which is low in calories when compared with other cheeses, and Swiss which has the added bonus of a lot of vitamin b12. Overly processed cheese spreads and snacks should be avoided.
Cheese is most typically made from cow’s milk but can also be made using the milks of other animals such as goats, sheep, reindeer, camels or yaks.
It is made by acidifying the milk and then adding an enzyme that causes it to coagulate or clump. These clumps are the cheese curd, which in some cases can be used just as they are for certain foods such as poutine. More often, however, the cheese curds are separated from the liquid and pressed into shape, sometimes by hand, and sometimes with the use of a mould.
Kristin Fulford is a nutrition student at the University of Guelph and had a lot to say about cheese.
“Cheese is great but only in small amounts. It is high in fat but it’s also high in calcium and vitamin A so it’s not all bad,” she said.
Fulford added that it can be better to eat cheeses with a stronger flavour. The intensity of the flavour makes you want to eat less of the cheese, and, therefore, there is less of a risk for overindulgence.
Cheese.com contains a database of nearly 600 cheeses. When viewing the database you can sort the cheese alphabetically by names, by country of origin, by type of milk, or by texture.
The site also contains helpful tips on how to serve and store cheese, and what cheeses go well with what wines.
Cheese.com even has some recommendations for how to cut certain cheeses properly. They suggest cutting cheese wheels in wedges like you would cut a cake, and cutting sliced cheeses lengthwise instead of across. They also suggest that you cut a truckle of cheese (which is a wheel of cheese that is taller than it is wide) by slicing it horizontally to make it easier to serve.
No matter what cheese you are cutting they say the most important thing is to make sure everyone gets an equal share of the inside and outside of the cheese.
Fulford also notes that many products that are marketed as cheese should not be considered as real cheeses as they do not contain enough actual cheese and are mostly comprised of other ingredients such as salt or sugar.
For example, the nacho cheese sauce served at some movie theatres lists cheese as the fifth ingredient, just ahead of jalapeno peppers.
“Another healthier way to have cheese is to go with the low fat varieties; you still have to use moderation though.” Fulford said.
