In this exclusive story, Chef Lance Seeto helps explain why Fijian’s love of cheese has created a whole new generation of cheese lovers, and why some cheeses are different coloured.
If you shop at one of the newer supermarket chains, you’ll notice their range of imported cheeses continues to expand with different types, colours, textures and infused flavours.
And it’s because our love of cheeses has dramatically evolved over the past few years.
Blame it on the lockdowns or generational change, but Fijians now have a taste for all things gooey, melty, and cheesy whether it’s on pizza, pasta, bread or a cheese platter.
In today’s story, I thought we’d delve deeper into why not all cheeses are the same.
For most in Fiji, their first experience of cheese was probably as a child at the breakfast table or school lunch box.
Kraft cheese slices were the easiest way to introduce cheese to their child, whether it was by itself or melted on toast.
When sliced cheese wasn’t affordable, grated Rewa cheese was just as tasty to stuff in sandwiches or cut into squares to munch on. Fiji’s range of locally-made cheeses is limited to paneer, tasty, mild cheddar, mozzarella and pizza.
Most of these cheeses are a light yellow but did you know that two of the newest cheeses to hit our supermarkets fridges are not yellow – they are orange and blue.
Why is some cheese orange?
In theory, cheese should be whitish — similar to the colour of cow’s milk, right?
Well, not quite. For the same reason that free-range eggs like Lilydale’s have brighter yolks, it is the same for cow’s milk because they eat lots of grass that contain beta-carotene, a natural pigment found in most things that are orange in colours like carrots or pawpaw.
Centuries ago in England, lots of cheeses had a natural yellowish-orange pigment.
The cheese came from the milk of certain breeds of cows, such as Jersey and Guernsey.
Their milk tends to be richer in colour. So, when the pigment transferred to the cow’s milk, and then to the cheese, it was considered a mark of high quality and prestige.
Many customers looked for the distinct orange hue in quality cheeses back in the day.
However, English cheesemakers realised that they could make more money if they skimmed off the cream, sold it separately or make butter from it.
But in doing so, most of the colour was lost, since the natural orange pigment is carried in the fatty cream.
So, to pass off what was leftover — basically low-fat cheese made from white milk — as a high-quality product, the cheesemakers faked it.
They began adding colouring from saffron, marigold, carrot juice and later, annatto, which comes from the seeds of a tropical plant.
The devious cheesemakers of the 17th century used these colourings to pass their products off as the full-fat, naturally yellowish-orange cheese that Londoners had come to expect.
The tradition of colouring cheese then carried over in the US and around the world. The motivation was part tradition, part marketing to make their cheeses stand out.
There was another reason, too: It helped cheesemakers achieve a uniform colour in their cheeses.
American cheese vs cheddar cheese
The main difference between American cheese and Cheddar cheese is that American cheese is made from milk, whey proteins, and emulsifiers, whereas cheddar cheese is made from cow’s milk.
American cheese tends to be blander in taste, whereas Cheddar cheese has a mild and strong taste. But American cheese has a smooth and creamy texture and melts much easier, whereas Cheddar cheese has a crumbly and hard texture.
So for the perfect, gooey, melty and cheesy sandwich, many love to use the American-style orange cheese slices which can also be found in
some Fijian supermarkets.
Blue vein cheese, on the other hand, is not that colour because of pigments, it is because of the natural mould.
Why is blue cheese blue?
With most foods, spotting grey veins with specks of blue mould accompanied by a quick whiff of ammonia means it’s time to throw whatever it once was in the trash. But for blue cheese, encountering these signs means it’s time to get the crackers out and start snacking.
Many varieties of blue cheese are made with a mould. Some people find this troubling even though this particular mould is not only safe for human consumption but could even be healthy. From Roquefort to Cambozola, there is history and science behind delicious mouldy cheese.
The prevailing legend of blue cheese’s discovery revolves around a happy accident.
The story goes that, over a millennium ago, in southern France, a shepherd settled down for a delicious picnic lunch of rye bread and sheep’s milk cheese in a cave while tending to his flock.
However, before he took a bite, the sheep got spooked and took off. He went after them, leaving his lunch behind.
Months later, he passed by the cave and found his former lunch undisturbed… other than by a thick layer of mould that had formed on top. Either because he was adventurous or simply very hungry, the shepherd took a bite.
So, why didn’t the shepherd get sick when he ate his months-old mouldy bread and cheese?
Because the damp limestone caves that dot southern France are filled with naturally occurring Penicillium roqueforti mould spores—a variety of mould that is in the same family as the one that the antibiotic Penicillin is made from.
Unlike other moulds, Penicillium roqueforti does not produce toxins by themselves and are not dangerous to humans.
When these safe Penicillin varieties come in contact with cheese (either naturally or in a controlled facility), they greatly accelerate processes that create the unique look, texture and taste we’ve come to associate with blue cheese.
Penicillium roqueforti produces enzymes that release amino acids that more quickly break down the cheese’s proteins.
This process is called proteolysis and makes the cheese creamy, particularly near where the amino acids are most active—the grey, blue veins.
In addition, Penicillium roqueforti also triggers another biochemical event that produces enzymes that lead to the creation of free fatty acids and the release of a methyl ketone.
This is called lipolysis and it gives the cheese its distinct blue look, odd smell and sharp flavour.
Blue cheeses can now be found in most international supermarkets, and apart from eating them with crackers, this cheese is just perfect in a pasta dish – once you get used to the smell.
- Chef Lance Seeto is the chef owner of KANU island-fusion gastropubs located in Suva and Nadi.
