Affi-What Now?

AFFINAGE! Pronounced aw-fin-aj

Affinage is the art of aging cheeses. This is one of those tricky topics, because for most things you make them and they are done. Cheese is not so simple. An unaged or young cheese is made by a cheese maker, after which it is aged. In Europe the aging is often done by different people in a different business. The aging can be more influential to the final product than the making and often gets more acclaim. 

The stereotypical affineur; here working with roquefort

Someone who ages cheese is called an affineur and it is their job to control all aspects of climate and handling of the cheeses in their care. They manipulate humidity, temperature, air flow and perform tasks like washing, brushing and turning cheeses. Because of seasonal and other changes in milk and cheese quality an affineur does not just follow a set protocol for each cheese, but is constantly evaluating and re-assessing conditions as the cheeses age. The aging process is where a cheese develops its texture and flavor, so the process is wildly important. 

Basque cave. Photo: NY Times

Aging is where the caves come into play. Traditionally natural caves provided consistent temperature and humidity levels and regional cheeses were different due in part to the natural differences in their local caves. Now we build rooms to produce exactly the conditions we want and can make cheeses that require very different conditions in the same place.

Washing, brushing and turning are all physical manipulations of cheese that help develop flavors and textures. Washing keeps in moisture and promotes certain bacteria to grow, turning lets a cheese age evenly and prevents settling. Wrapping or binding cheeses in different materials also changes their flavor.

What amazes me is that the same milk, made in the same way can become very different cheeses depending on affinage. The size of a cheese effects surface area and how quickly bacteria will penetrate into the interior. Lets just say there is so much to affinage that I can't even start to cover it here!

The word affinage comes from the latin 'ad finis' which means 'to the limit' and that is exactly what an affineur does. They take high quality young cheeses and push them to the limits of their melt-your-face taste potential. 

Affinage continues (should continue) at the retailer. Cheeses can be shipped before being perfectly ripe to avoid over-ripening before they reach the customer, and my biggest pet peeve in the cheese world is to be sold an under-ripe cheese. For as much as the conditions and care matter, if the cheese doesn't reach you at the right time, its going to be sub-prime. I also think the American palate lands a little on the sweet and simple side, so young cheeses are likely to be received well. Timing is everything, and I don't doubt that my best cheese experiences have all come from eating something at the prefect moment for that cheese. 

Maybe I can get this guy to open a cheese counter next to my house and provide me with perfectly aged cheeses all the time. 

Master Affineur Rodolphe Le Meunier

Ossau-Iraty

I went to my favorite cheese counter in Seattle a while ago and noticed a bunch of cheeses with the name Ossau-Iraty. I'd never heard of this before, but based on how many different Ossau-Iraty cheeses they had it must be fairly common and popular. So I grabbed three at random and now here we are!

Here is what a very brief internet search has taught me. Ossau-Iraty is an AOC protected cheese type from France. It's named after the Ossau valley and the beech forests of Irati where the sheep graze and the cheese is made. It is a raw milk, uncooked cheese (neither milk or curds are heated higher than needed for culturing) that is semi-firm, smooth in texture and has plant-y earthy flavors. Apparently this is a very old cheese, having been made by alpine shepards for over a thousand years.

Here's what I tried, and I apologize for the lack of info on these cheeses, but the girl helping me at the counter didn't write very good information down for these guys:

Ossau Iraty, raw sheep milk
Basco-Bearnaiso, France

Is that little blue spot a flaw?

Basco-Bearnaiso is simply a reference to basco-bearnaise sheep, which are one of two breeds who's milk is permissible in making Ossau Iraty. This cheese has a very light paste (interior) and a dark, dusty rind. These are both hallmark characteristics of the cheese. There is one blue-green dot in one of the small eyes, which I don't think is meant to be there, but I don't know what that means for the flavor. It's crystalline and salty, but mild in flavor. A little nutty, but not wildly flavorful to me. It has the sheep milk sweetness and a little wooly flavor, which I like. It has some meaty-ness as well. Not a mind blower I'd say.









Ossau-Iraty, raw sheep milk
La Tradition Du Bon Fromage, France

This is so different than the first! It is a deep creamy yellow with a sticky orange rind. Much more pungent and less salty. It has the characteristic smooth and crystalline texture. It is quite spicy/sharp. There is deep earthiness and a hint of stanky. Some tropical fruit as well. It is quite aromatic.






Ossau-Iraty, raw sheep milk
Mons Fromagerie, France

Both Mons Fromagerie and La Tradition Du Bon are affinuer/distributors, but I've linked the Mons website because it is just cool! Check it out. Also, this is my favorite out of the three that I tried. This cheese is creamy-pale in color with a dark brown-orange rind. And what a different taste! Quite meaty and creamy. This is crystalline, but the crystals are finer than in the others. Semi-firm and very tongue-coasting in texture. I would give this to someone new to the cheese world, it's a wonderful introduction.



None of these are mind blowing, but a very mellow and tasty cheese. Flavorful and friendly. I think I just have very specific tastes.

I also tasted a fourth sheep milk cheese with the Ossau-Iraty

Puit D'Astier, raw sheep milk

Rodolphe Le Meunier

Les Fromages du Moulin, Auvergne, France

I'll get to the tasting notes on this in a second, but i just want to babble about cheese making and aging for a while first. This totally sexy and beautiful cheese is aged by a quite attractive award winning affinuer named Rodolphe Le Meunier, who was named World's Best Cheesemonger 2007 and is a nationally recognized artisan in France (that's an official title, he's like a French national treasure). This cheese is aged on a bed of straw and is named for its donut shape. Man, now I want to try everything this guy ages. I think I would both like to be this man and go on a wildly romantic date in France with him. It could happen.






This cheese is just fun, so much going on visually! Like I said it's from a donut shaped wheel so there is rind in the center (yay, more rind!). It has a soft, bloomy appearance edged in neon yellow! Like really, truly bright neon! What is making that color? It has a lovely semi-soft, still sliceable texture. Ooooh! What flavor! A little woody and wonderfully pungent & stinky. Very creamy with that meaty/umami flavor. It is very flavorful without being at all overripe. Very nice. The rind is bitter. It has one of my favorite cheese textures; buttery and supple but can be sliced and served. I can't stop eating this.

How long till Rodolphe and I disappear into the French countryside?

Focus On: Black Sheep Creamery

Talking about sheep's milk cheese has really made me want to eat more! Wanting to eat cheese is my response to most experiences. I thought I would do an across the board tasting of Black Sheep Creamery out of Chehalis, Washington. I've had their cheese before and knew I enjoyed it, but tasting everything at once is a great way for me to really compare them and get a sense of their unique qualities.

All the cheeses beautifully displayed on the hood of my truck

What's cool about Black Sheep Creamery? They are a farmstead creamery, which I think is pretty essential to making great cheese in the U.S. This means they raise their own animals and produce their own milk. They raise Laucane and Fresian sheep and focus on aged, hard cheeses. They do make a fresh cheese as well, but I didn't sample it.

To the cheese!

Baasque, sheep's milk
   Black Sheep Creamery, Adna, WA

This cheese is pale and creamy colored, with a gorgeous rind and a full-bodied smell. So good! Softer in texture than I expected, similar to a swiss but falling into curd pieces as I eat it. A little chewy, in a really satisfying way. It has a fruity, citrus sweetness. I really like the texture. I want a grilled cheese sandwich made with this for my birthday.










St. Helens, sheep's milk
   Black Sheep Creamery, Adna, WA

At first glance these cheeses all look similar, but each is quite unique. The St Helens has a glowing creamy color and a more tightly knitted interior. This is a washed rind cheese, but it is on the mild and firm end of that scale. But it isn't short on flavor! Very nutty and warm. I like the salt level too. It has a little fresh sheep-y flavor to it.

Adnatou, sheep and cow's milk

   Black Sheep Creamery, Adna, WA

This has a more orange colored rind and more yellow paste (interior) than the first two, thanks to the cow's milk. This is fairly pungent, but in no way stinky. The salt level is a little too high for me, but paired with something or in cooking it would be quite good. There are really nice flavors here, but after the first two it's not a show stopper. Among other company I'm sure it would shine.
P.S. I was surprised to learn that this cheese has the same recipe and aging as the Baasque, except with cow's milk added! It is so different, a very different texture and flavor. I would never have guessed that.






Pecorino - Fresh, raw sheep's milk
   Black Sheep Creamery, Adna, WA

This is their take on a familiar cheese. It has a smooth and very supple texture, pale in color. It's truly lovely, with a back-of-the-throat meaty and spicy flavor. Classic. Smooth, semi-firm texture. I bet this would melt like a dream. It has the light fruity sweetness characteristic of sheep's milk. I would rate Pecorino in the top third of my favorite cheeses, but not the top quarter, still this is an amazing rendition of it.




Mopsey's Best, raw sheep's milk
   Black Sheep Creamery, Adna, WA

Oh yes! Well done Mopsey! This is one of those cheeses that makes me want to punch someone, it's so good. This is a beautiful pale cheese with a woody brown rind. A drier texture than the others; it is almost-but-not crumbly. It is so grassy and sweet and delightfully sheepy (how is it that 'sheepy' sounds more appealing than goaty?) I want to live in this cheese. Balanced and wonderfully flavorful. I wish I had more vocabulary to describe this, but I'm just going to keep on using generic words of approval: Yum!








Feta, sheep's milk
   Black Sheep Creamery, Adna, WA

Now to end with something diferent. A feta style, and it is so white. Did you know that feta made from non-traditional cow's milk is often bleached to mimic this whiteness? Gross.This cheese has a perfect crumbly-firm texture. It's quite salty, but that is what I want and expect from feta. There is that sheep flavor again, like a hint of clean wool and sweetness. High citrusy acidity. There is a flavor here I can't place, but it reminds me of the holidays. Is it weird to say that there are notes of olives and molassas in the background? It's that hint of dark sweetness that takes me to holidays with the family. That and dirty vodka martinis.





Wonderful cheeses across the board. Without ever meeting these farmers or visiting their farm I already have an idea of the kind of place it is. Passionate folks for sure.

Milk!

What would cheese be without milk? I've been lucky enough to get up-close and personal with lots of milk (goat mostly) and I'm amazed by how much diversity there is to it. This is a subject with a lot going on, way to much for me to get into here, so I'm just going to talk about what's on my mind at the moment.

The Source!

Milk comes from mammals (duh!), so I guess cheese could be made from the milk of any mammal, but there are some common species that will be contributing to the kind of cheeses you can buy readily.

 And just a quick side note - of any species, you only milk the girls! I've been asked that more than once while working on dairies and I have to stop myself from laughing. You can give milking males a shot, but I doubt you're gonna like the result. 

Cows

Holsteins in a large scale dairy operation

In North America we see any dairy product and we instantly think cow. They are big, high producing and our industrial agriculture economy is built around them. Cow's milk has large fat molecules, which are difficult to digest, and which cause lactose intolerance. These same large fat molecules also bind together readily and separate out, which is how cream rises to the top of non-homogenized milk. From cow's milk comes cream and butter. Yes!

The ability to separate is what makes it possible to fiddle with fat content when making cheese from cow's milk. Think about cream cheese, cheeses with double cream (made with about twice the fat content of whole milk) and even triple creams! Delicious. Cow's milk also has a rich yellow color in comparison to milk from other animals. 

A Jersey cow

The Holstein is the highest volume producing dairy animal and used largely in industrial dairy, but there are so many different breeds of cow! And each gives a different character of milk. Jersey and Guernsey cows are known for having some of the richest and most yellow of all cow milk. When I see a super yellow cheese I think of these cows right away. 

Don't forget Dexters! They are mini dairy cows!

An American Alpine goat

Goats
My first love in the dairy world. It was goats that lured me into farming four years ago, and they've had my heart ever since. They produce smaller volumes of milk, but the lower levels of lactose and smaller fat molecules make goat's milk easy to digest. You'll need a special machine to get cream or butter out of goat's milk (Coach Farm does this, I've had their goat butter - it is a little harder than cow butter, pure white and with a texture somewhere between cow butter and coconut oil. The flavor is AMAZING). Goat's milk is the most pure white of the common milk producers and has a distinct flavor. I won't say it's a bad flavor, but it's goaty. Goat's milk also has a high concentration of vitamins and minerals. 

In cheese that fresh goaty flavor is what I love most. It gives a taste like cut grass and a clean animal. Goat cheeses, especially fresh cheeses, are snow white. There are lots of cheeses made traditionally with goats milk, and some that must be made with it to qualify for their PDO status. 

Just like cows, there are a wide variety of dairy goat breeds and each gives slightly different milk. I could talk about goats forever, but I won't. Here are some of my favorite breeds:

A La Mancha goat. Don't worry, her ears are actually large for her breed!

A Nigerian Dwarf goat

Sheep
There is an old saying 'cows for butter, goats for milk and sheep for cheese'. Personally I might switch goats to cheese and sheep to milk as sheep's milk  is known for being wonderfully creamy and sweet. They are not the volume producers that cows are, but they have the highest average fat content of their milk, and less of a funky flavor than goat milk. Their milk is very white, only slightly less so than goat milk. 

Fresian Lambs at Red Hill Cheese

Cheese made from sheep's milk is wonderfully rich and delicate in flavor. In North America cow cheese dominates and goat cheese seems like the second most popular, but sheep cheese is really worth tasting. If you've never had it before try and find some! Just writing this is making me want to try more sheep cheeses. 

A Lacaune sheep. This is where Roquefort comes from!

There are not as many dairy sheep breeds as cow or goat, and in North America it is almost exclusively limited to the Fresian and Lacaune breeds. 

Gruyere and Friends

So, what does it mean to be Gruyere? You're a good looking cheese, you're approachable, and my mom recognizes your name so she might actually buy you at the grocery store. All around you're pretty popular, but not my screaming favorite.

Gruyere (pronounced grew-yeh, a New England accent helps here) is nutty and warm, a very comforting flavor and semi-firm texture. It is made simply and cave aged to perfection for at least three months. It's my opinion that simple flavors are the most difficult to perfect and most influenced by terrior. Gruyere is a PDO cheese from Gruyeres, Switzerland with Comte and Beaufort being its French cousins.

This guy is an excellent cooking cheese, excellent paired with wine and a real charmer on the cheese plate. There is something irritating to me about a cheese that is so eager to please, and that feeling extends to people as well. But at least cheese makes up for it by being delicious.

If you are looking for a real mess in the kitchen and an appetizer that would make anyone (at least me) fall in love with you, then try Gougeres, a traditional Gruyere pastry ball. I always love to make things that seem like more trouble than they are worth, and I'll review this recipe soon!

To the cheeses!

Gruyere 1655, raw cow's milk
   Bulle, Switzerland

This is a very special cheese, as only three dairies in the world produce Gruyere of a quality high enough to be qualified with the '1655' label. It is pale yellow inside and has a fairly smooth rind.
 Firm, but not hard, this cheese has such a familiar taste! Smoooooth interior with lots of amino acid crystals (tiny crunchy-crispies). Easy eating for sure. Nutty and a little caramely.










Rupert, raw cow's milk
   Consider Bardwell Farm, Pawlet, Vermont

Well, this is my second cheese from Consider Bardwell Farms already! I'm not doing it on purpose, but there must be something about their cheeses that appeal to me. Maybe its the super yellow Jersey cow's milk? The Rupert is almost glowing! The rind is textured and light in color. It gives a tingly, lightly acidic taste on the tongue. Has a soft, clean texture, not too crumbly or creamy. There is an almost cheddar-like aftertaste, nutty and mild. I am reminded of Diane Ackerman's A Natural History of the Senses in which she discusses our poorly developed vocabulary for taste and smell; we rely mostly on comparisons, with few stand-alone adjectives. Feeling that lack here!








Pleasent Ridge Reserve, raw cow's milk
   Uplands Cheese Co., Dodgeville, Wisconsin

A dark, golden yellow cheese with a dark rind. From a good sized (10 inch?) wheel. It has lots of those little amino acid crystals, that give it a sparkling texture. A little salty for me. I think the prime flavor is mid way between the center of the cheese and the rind. It has a very classic flavor.

Designated Origin Cheeses

I'm going to break away a little and discuss the European standard for controlling traditional cheeses. It's not the most light-hearted topic, but it really helps with that re-occurring question 'well, what kind of cheese is it?!'.

In the beginning (whenever that was) cheeses were made in one place, with local milk and aged in local caves etc. An area's micro climate influences the quality of feed for milk animals, the type of animals that thrive there, and provides the conditions for cheese aging, among many other things. This all leads to cheeses that share a specific and expected flavor, called terroir in french, which roughly means 'of the land'. Cheeses were named for the places they came from, and an expected terroir was associated with those names.

Here is where governments started to get involved. To protect terrior, as well as local reputations and economies, certain products were given a special status called Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) for the European Union, Appellation d'Origine Controlee (AOC) in France, Denominazione di
Origine Controllata (DOC) in Italy, Denominacion de Origen (DdO) in Spain, Denominacao de Origem (DdO) in Portugal.... and the list goes on. Each system is slightly different, but they all do similar things.

As an example of what it takes to qualify for PDO status let's look at one of the first cheeses to be designated PDO/AOC: Roquefort

Roquefort is a creamy/crumbly strongly flavored blue cheese, and one of the most beloved cheeses in the world. To get the Roquefort appellation a cheese must:

• Be made from the whole, raw milk of a Lacaune sheep
• The sheep must be pasture raised, in a limited region
• The milk must be no more than two days old
• Aging has to occur in the natural limestone caves of Mont Cambalou in Roquefort-sur-Soulzan

In the end there are different Roqueforts, made by different producers, but not just anything can be Roquefort. So, is it one specific cheese? No. Is it a type of cheese? Kind of. Your local dairy could be making the same 'kind' of cheese, but it wouldn't be Roquefort. Some names have become so prevalent, that they have broken away from PDO control; how much U.S. 'Parmesan' is from Parma, Italy? In Europe it is illegal to sell anything not meeting PDO standards as Parmesan, but in the U.S. pretty much anything can carry the name. Here, only those cheeses baring the appellation Parmigiano-Reggiano are true, Italian Parmesan.

This is one of the reasons it is so hard to organize cheese in categories and in my head! There are lots of nutty, hard grating cheeses, a few Parmigiano-Reggianos and such of variety of hard cheeses, from many types of milk, with an array of flavors. When in doubt I like to try new things and eat more cheese!

Washed Rinds!

Personal Note: There was a meeting in my area about the future of the historic Brown Dairy, which is going to be a working farm once more, and folks were wondering if there was anyone around wanting to get into dairy. My name came up, and while it's so out of bounds for what I want or can do right now, it is really nice to be thought of. I'm always coming up with different versions of my future, and how dairy will play a role in it. I don't know where I'll end up, but I know I'll be eating really good cheese at least!

Speaking of really good cheese... (flawless segue) how about one of my favorite kinds of cheese; washed rinds! Yum. A washed rind cheese is anything that is bathed with a salty and/or boozy liquid while it ages. These cheeses tend to start out semi-firm in texture and get softer and often gooey as they age. The washing keeps the surface of the cheese moist and sealed up so they don't dry out. I think washing started as a way to keep cheeses from drying out, or maybe I made that up.

Washed rinds have a pink/orange tacky surface, lower acidity and, woah man, a funky aroma. These traits are all thanks to brevibacterium linens or b. linens which thrive in the moist salty environment created on the rind and are encouraged to grow. Powdered culture is sometimes added to the wash mixture to make sure the b. linens out compete any nasty bacteria.

Here's some cool stuff the internet taught me: b. linens actually release the same aromatic molecules as bacteria on your feet! So that powerful smell isn't just like sweaty socks, it's truly the same (and both are a proven mosquito attractant - boo!).

A sub category of washed rinds are smear ripened cheeses. These are the ones with culture added to the wash or, better yet, made by rubbing old developed cheeses on younger cheeses to share that sticky b. linens goodness.

Here's some notes on the washed rind cheeses I've had recently:

Dorset, raw cow's milk
   Consider Bardwell Farm, Pawlet, Vermont

This guy has a creamy yellow color, I'm thinking Jersey milk (which is probably the yellowist of the yellow milks). It's got a pink-tinged paste-y rind. Looks to be from about an 8x2" wheel. Aromatic! Soft, buttery texture that cuts cleanly. Pungent and slightly acidic flavor, with an approachable level of old sock (which I love).





Grayson, raw cow's milk
   Meadow Creek Dairy, Galax, Virginia

Yellow, yellow, yellow! Many irregular shaped, small holes throughout. From a square wheel (is that an oxy-moron?) Pastey orange rind. Thick and slightly tongue-coating texture. Floral and a little sharp background flavor. Crispy, crystal filled rind. Even funkiness throughout. Heavy duty creamy, is this more than just whole milk? This is too easy to eat. A little ammonia aftertaste, which might be a sign of mishandling, but I almost like it.





Ardrahan, pastuerized cow's milk
   Ardrahan Farmhouse, County Cork, Ireland

Woah soft & stinky. Almost melty at room temperature. Pale tan/yellow in color, maybe from a 9x1" wheel. Holy crap! That is a potent cheese, like stinky socks in a brand new shoe. It's too much for me. I'm thinking this poor cheese is not at its best. I'll have to get a better representation later. Yikes.

Fontina Val D'Aosta, raw cow's milk
  Aosta Valley, Italy

This is one of those classic cheeses that is no longer the name of just one specific cheese but has come to represent a controlled, regional variety of cheese. In this case Fontina, which is a pretty common 'type' of cheese. The Fontina Val D'Aosta (Fontina of the Aosta valley, in the alps) is only applied to the original type fontina, with its Protected Designation of Origin (PDO). So it's the real deal. It has a creamy tan color interior and brown, dusty-white rind. From about a 4.5x2.5" wheel. Soft but sturdy texture. Good level of stink, a balanced pungency. A very balanced cheese on all accounts.

Tomme du Berger, raw sheep's and goat's milk
   France/Italy  (produced in Sardenia, aged in Provence, Herve Mons Affineur)

Here is another one of those convoluted cheese production situations that make categorizing and learning about cheese systematically really difficult. Often in cheese making it is the aging process, not the 'making' that has the most to do with a final product. The aging of cheeses is a craft called affinage, and some people (affineurs) only age cheeses. This has been happening for so long that some famous cheeses (this included) must be aged in a specific cave, by a specific affineur to be the cheese we know them to be, despite being 'made' in the same place, by the same people. Confused yet? Let's just say, for some cheeses, its a two step process that needs to be the same on both ends to get the expected result. This little cheese has to cross country lines if it wants to be Tomme du Beger! Whew.
The result is a 4x1.5" wheel with a nice ribbed pattern from the draining basket and a bright orange rind. It has a pale interior and sweet aroma. What a lovely sweet sheep-y flavor! Very fresh tasting and quite salty. Flavors of fresh cut grass.Smooth but firm with a lovely flavor through the rind. I think my piece might be a hair on the young side.



Dono Mariano, raw goat's milk
   Extremadura, Spain

Goat-white interior, medium tan to pink/orange rind. Semi-firm cheese with a smooth, drier texture. It's got that fresh goat flavor that I love! Piquant, but not overwhelmingly pungent. A bit too salty for me. Really delicious full flavored, with a spring freshness and light acidity. I'm such a goat lover, I can't help but love a cheese like this.









Cabra Raiano, pasteurized goat's milk
   Casa Lusa, Alentejo, Portugal

Wow, melty power! A wonderful little cheese. Firm, solid golden rind, supporting a melty gooey center (goat white of course). It leaks out of the rind in a really appetizing way. Probably the kind of cheese you would cut the top rind off to make an open bowl with the spoonable interior exposed.
Here is a little bit of heaven. Not too salty, a little bitter earth tone, yet fresh and clean. Strong but not offensive aroma. It's got a perfect light acidity. Background flavors of fresh hay and citrus. From a stout little 4x3" wheel. This is the kind of cheese that makes me slap the table and say 'damn!' literally. Back, front, middle, it's all good.