Say Cheese!

I was getting ready to write a review about the restaurants we ate at during our Bicol trip last weekend, when I was called for merienda. The menu: Mom's home baked carrot cake, provolone cheese and coffee. I was pleasantly surprised that the cheese actually went perfectly well with carrot cake! A sudden inspiration to write about cheese suddenly hit me. 

I grew up in a home where everyone loves cheese. I remember one time when my mom and I were grocery shopping, we decided to buy different kinds of cheese we haven't tried yet. My best friend's mom is also a big cheese fan, so I get to eat goat cheese, provolone cheese, and other kinds of cheese from time to time. You can say, my love affair with cheese is starting to get serious day by day, so why not express my love for cheese by dedicating a whole post to it? 

[disclaimer: I am not an expert on cheese, and everything I am going to write is based on personal observation, experience, and encounters with cheeses]

There are over 500 kinds of cheese, but I will only talk about the ones that I have tried. Let's start with.....

Processed Cheese. Most common Filipino brands are Kraft Eden cheese, and Cheezee. This is the type of cheese that we are most familiar with, because it is readily available in supermarkets and sari-sari stores. Processed cheese is made from normal cheese with emulsifiers which make them have longer shelf life than unprocessed cheese. I think it's a versatile kind of cheese, because we use it in sandwiches, salads, burgers, pasta, sauces and a lot of other dishes. It is also favored by many, because it is less expensive than other cheese kinds like mozarella and parmesan. As a matter of fact, it is my favorite kind of cheese. 

Mozarella Cheese. For those not familiar with it, it's the type of cheese that stretches out when you take a bite off your pizza. I like mozarella cheese only for its texture, because it is so soft, smooth, and melts beautifully. However, the taste is rather bland, and I have always found it difficult to grate. I particularly love using it for pasta and pizza. 

Parmigiano-Reggiano

Parmigiano-Reggiano. Or Parmesan cheese as it is commonly known, is Italian hard cheese made from raw cow's milk in the provinces of Parma, Reggio Emilia, Moderna and Bologna in Italy. I have read that under Italian law the cheese can only be called "parmigiano-reggiano" if it has been produced in Italy. Otherwise, it is just called parmesan cheese. It is one of the finest cheeses there are, and considered by some as the "greatest cheese on earth". Sad to say, the ones we can buy from supermarkets are not the real Parmigiano-Reggiano, but close imitations of it.  I have yet to taste the authentic parmigiano-reggiano, but the "imitation" has a distinct taste, texture and a strong smell that rather puts me off sometimes, but I love it grated over pasta dishes with olive oil-based sauces, like pesto. It also tastes best when freshly grated or shaved, rather than when grated a few hours before serving.

Cheddar Cheese. I am not a big fan of this hard, crumbly and sharp-tasting cheese. The first time I tasted real cheddar cheese, I thought it was spoiled cheese, but I soon found that it is perfect when mixed with mozarella, and sprinkled over pizza. I also love hamburgers with cheddar cheese instead of the usual processed sliced cheese. There are 13 kinds of cheddar cheese according to the Australian Dairy Corporation, but I'm only familiar with processed cheddar, mild cheddar, and vintage cheddar.

Edam Cheese. Filipinos know it as the red wax-coated Quezo de Bola served with ham during Noche Buena or Christmas dinner. It is very popular in the Philippines, but edam cheese is actually named after the province of Edam in North Holland. I find the taste and texture of edam cheese similar to cheddar cheese. It is a bit sharp, salty, and crumbly like cheddar cheese, but I enjoy eating it with bread and ham, instead of pizza or burger. 

Cream Cheese. This is one of my favorite cheeses, because it's also very versatile, if not more versatile, than processed cheese (although technically, I think cream cheese is also processed cheese). It can be used in sauces, spreads, dips, cakes, sandwiches, steaks among many other things. The texture is very soft, and it is spreadable. Depending on the brand, the flavor is sweet and creamy to tangy or mildly sour. I have discovered that the popular American brand Philadelphia is more tangy than the local Magnolia cream cheese which is richer and creamier. I prefer the latter, especially for making cheesecakes, while the Philadelphia brand tastes better for dips. 

Ricotta cheese

Ricotta Cheese. Ricotta is not really cheese, but leftover whey, a by-product of cheese, that has been recooked (ricotta literally means "recooked"). It looks like creamy white curds, and supposedly sweet in taste. However, the (cheap) ones I have bought tasted bland. I have also learned that it is a major ingredient in Italian desserts, but so far I have only used it for pastas like cannelloni and lasagna.  

Cottage Cheese. Cottage cheese is very similar in taste and texture to Ricotta that I could not tell the difference between the two. I think the difference is in the the way they are produced, but really, if you placed the two on the table, I would not be able to tell which is which. I have yet to try cottage cheese with other stuff, but so far, like ricotta, I have only used it in pasta dishes.

Goat Cheese. As the name implies, goat cheese is made from goat's milk. This cheese is color white, has a strong sour smell, and its texture is similar to cream cheese, but sharper and tangier in taste. The first time I tried it, I was wary, and only took a very small piece of it to spread over bread. I thought it might taste like blue cheese, because of its smell, but I was pleasantly surprised that it did not taste like blue cheese at all. It is not exactly my type of cheese, though, and I would not mind not eating it for years on end.

Emmental Cheese. It is also known as Swiss cheese, and it is my favorite cheese when it comes to appearance. This is the kind of cheese which has holes like the ones we often see in cartoons. It has a nutty flavor at room temperature, but bland like mozarella cheese when melted in heat. When melted, its texture is also very similar to mozarella, but not quite at room temperature. Although it is also soft, it is more solid than mozarella. I love eating this cheese with salty crackers and strong, dark coffee. 

Blue cheese

Blue Cheese. My least favorite of all the cheeses! I do not like its taste and smell at all, or the fact that it contains molds of bacteria. I only tried blue cheese once out of curiosity, and I will never try it again. I could not stand its taste on its own, so I tried making blue cheese butter, a kind of sauce with blue cheese and butter that I used to top steak and muscovado apples. The exquisite combination of flavors and textures of pork and the muscovado apples made the taste of blue cheese bearable, but my taste buds were still not exquisite enough for blue cheese. 

Provolone Cheese. This is one of my more favorite cheeses. Its like mozarella in texture and emmental in taste. The longer you let it stay at room temperature, the softer it becomes, as I lately found out. It tastes good with loaf or pan de sal, and like I said earlier, surprisingly tastes great with carrot cake and coffee!

There you have it! Til next time....going out to try out the other 500 kinds of cheese! :D