What makes one cheese different from another? A seemingly simple question, but the truth is nobody can say exactly. Mary Holbrook, who makes Mendip cheese, says she's been making cheese for 20 years and she still can't tell you exactly why one cheese turns out a little different from the next.
Still, we do have a handle on many of the factors that go into making a cheese what it is. To name a few, there is:
The Milk
This is the raw material of cheesemaking. Its flavor and quality are critical components of a crafting a fine cheese. The milk itself is impacted by:
The Soil
Different mineral content or soil makeup impacts the flavor and texture of the milk. The more balanced and interesting an animal's diet, the more interesting the milk. When animals graze in old, basically undisturbed pasturage, they eat a widely-varied diet of native plants, herbs and grasses, contributing to a more complexly-flavored cheese.
The Breed
And you thought a cow was a cow! Sorry. Although it's come down to that in most large agricultural areas, there are many breeds of cows. Goats. And sheep. Different animals, different milk. Different milk, different cheese.
The Season
Spring, summer, fall-it does make a difference. Mary Holbrook breeds and milks her goats seasonally. (In the winter months the goats are dried off, allowing them to breed and then give birth.)
In the spring, when the new kids are born, the milk is "nice and rich" and yields a fine piece of very flavorful cheese. In the summer, the goats are feeding on grass, the weather is nice, the yields are high, but the milk is lower in protein and fats. It's thinner, and therefore less desirable. In the fall, the weather cools, the season is drawing to a close and the milk yields go down again, but it makes a nice, creamy-textured cheese.
The Handling
This is a huge issue. The freshness of the milk, the sanitation of the handling process, and the care with which it is handled all contribute to the texture and flavor of the finished cheese.
The Rennet
Rennet starts the separation of curds from whey. A lot of the newer makers are now using vegetarian rennet instead of the traditional rennet which comes from the lining of a calves stomach.
The Starter Cultures
These are a relatively new addition to cheesemaking. In the old days, there were so many bacteria in milk that starters were not needed. Today, many cheesemakers add lab-made starter cultures, which get enough bacteria activity going to make a more flavorful cheese.
The Technique
All cheesemaking revolves around separating curd from whey and then ripening the cheese. Each "type" of cheese is made with its own "recipe" variation on that theme. Cottage cheese is merely curd separated out, mixed with a bit of cream and salt. Techniques like "surface ripening," "cheddaring," or "blueing" are all different ways of taking a simple curd and gradually converting it into a distinctive piece of cheese. Curd can be cut smaller or larger, heated, stretched, milled or chopped. Its acidity can be allowed to grow, or kept at a minimum. It can be pressed long or short, or not at all. Obviously, whole textbooks have been devoted to the subject. I hope you get the idea, though.
The Aging
What happens to a cheese after the maker has finished the initial work has great impact on the flavor of a cheese. In general, the longer a cheese is aged, the more flavorful it is. But many cheeses are meant to be eaten in their youth. Aging also them too long destroys their flavor. Aging takes time and lots of labor, which means it usually adds to the cost as well as the flavor of a cheese.
The Cheesemaker
I don't want to over-romanticize this. I mean, I know I can paint you all these pictures of aged cheesemakers wearing berets and stooping over their milk, but the point isn't the romance. It's the skill of the maker. Young, old, woman or man, philosopher or fourth-generation farmer, the cheesemaker is the one who puts all these ingredients together to get a finished cheese. As with any craft, of course, two cheesemakers working with the same recipe and the same milk are still going to get two slightly different versions of the same cheese.