Research paper Where do holes come from in cheese? Where do the holes come from in cheese and why are they different, depending on the type of cheese.

Municipal educational institution

Novoselkovskaya secondary school

Research

Where

holes in the cheese?

Completed by a 3rd grade student

Municipal educational institution Novosyolkovskaya sosh

Ryabova Natalya (9 years old)

Head: academician beginning classes

Natalya Vladimirovna

2009.

With. Novosyolki

We love cheese very much and my mother often buys it for us. Cheese is one of the most nutritious foods. And if you look at it carefully, you can see holes and for some reason they are of different sizes.

I wondered, why are there holes in the cheese?

- Maybe half the mouse was eaten? After all, not all cheeses have holes.

- Maybe these are former bubbles?

- What if they shoot from a gun and the holes are round?

I asked my mother: “Why are there holes in the cheese?” But mom found it difficult to answer this question and we decided to turn to books.

From these I learned:

There are different types of cheeses: hard, soft. Some with holes, some without.

It turns out that these are not holes, but eyes. The eyes of the cheese “open” during its ripening; during the fermentation process, under the influence of lactic bacteria, carbon dioxide is released, which forms small cavities in the cheese mass, similar to bubbles. This happens in the production of hard cheeses such as GOUD, EDAM, EMMENTAL.

Why does this happen: some cheeses have large, round eyes, reaching a diameter of 4 cm, others have tiny, barely noticeable eyes, and still others don’t have them at all?

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From the Internet we learned:

That the taste of the cheese, size, shape and presence of eyes largely determines the composition. The fact is that to coagulate milk and obtain a cheese curd in cheese making, different starter cultures are used: either lactic sourdough (large holes), or rennet extract

(small holes), and sometimes both. The formation of eyes depends on the elasticity of the cheese mass and the timing of cheese ripening. The more mature and harder the cheese, the larger the holes.

There are many legends about the origin of cheese. Here is one of them.

The Arabian merchant Kanan set off on a long journey. He took food with him, as well as milk, which he poured into a traditional vessel - a dried sheep's stomach. The merchant stopped for the night and decided to drink milk. But... instead of milk, a watery liquid (whey) flowed out of the sheep’s stomach, and inside there was a white clot. He tried it and was surprised pleasant taste new product. This is how cheese was born, and it happened more than 4 thousand ago.

There were several hypotheses.

The first researchers thought that the eyes were formed as a result of the fermentation of milk sugar, but after it became clear that milk sugar disappears in the cheese in the first days after its production, and the eyes form on the 20-30th day, it became clear that this is not so.

In fact, holes are formed due to the release of carbon dioxide during the fermentation of milk salts, which react with propionic and acetic acids. Propionic bacteria, calcium acetate and carbon dioxide are formed. Accumulating in the microcavities of the cheese, carbon dioxide forms holes.

How is cheese made?

We called the Arzamas dairy plant and asked this question. But they refused to accept us there because production was temporarily suspended. Then we called former technologist Lushpynina Anna Nikolaevna and this is what she told us.

First, prepare the “dough” for the cheese. It is different for each type of cheese. Then the resulting mass is compacted under high pressure and special forms are filled with it. The cheese heads formed in the molds are removed and placed in warm chambers for ripening. During this period, the cheese “ferments”. Carbon dioxide is formed inside the pressed but still soft “dough”, which accumulates and is released in the form of bubbles. The more carbon dioxide, the more the bubbles swell. Then the cheese hardens, and a picture of the internal “breath” of fermenting cheese in the form of carbon dioxide bubbles is imprinted inside it. According to Pascal's law, which we will study in high school, pressure in bubbles is transmitted equally in all directions. Therefore, the bubbles are strictly round in shape. Deviation from this rule will mean that in some place inside there are seals or, conversely, voids in the “dough”. Some types of cheese are not subjected to high pressure processing (Russian); in them, carbon dioxide is released into existing voids of irregular shape. Such cheeses have irregularly shaped frozen bubbles.

Exist different types cheeses for different taste. Cheese acquires its flavor during ripening and cooking. Maturation takes place in special storage facilities under strict temperature and humidity control.

"Big-eyed" cheeses are often the subject of ridicule. Peter1, while in Holland, was treated to cheese. He was indignant when they gave him a strange product with large holes. He exclaimed: “Why are you giving me cheese that was eaten by mice?”

But in 2001, the American authorities established the maximum diameter of a cheese eye of no more than 2 cm.

From a TV show I learned that cheese can be made at home. Cheese prepared at home will not only be cheaper, but also taste better and be more nutritious.

I can offer you several recipes:

Thus, one of my hypotheses was confirmed. Indeed, the eyes in cheese are bubbles formed due to the release of carbon dioxide during the fermentation process. The presence of eyes depends on the starter used to prepare the cheese, heat treatment and manufacturing technology.

Recipes for making cheese at home

I. 1 kg of cottage cheese, 1 liter of milk, 100 g butter, 50 g vegetable oil, 1 teaspoon salt, 2 eggs, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 3 tablespoons vinegar.

Heat the milk, add cottage cheese to it. Cook the mixture for 10 minutes, stirring continuously. When the cottage cheese has curdled, place it on cheesecloth and squeeze thoroughly. Then put the squeezed cottage cheese in a clean pan, add butter, eggs, salt and mix everything. Place back on medium heat and cook, stirring. At the end of cooking, add soda and vinegar and mix thoroughly again until homogeneous mass. When the curd begins to lag behind the walls - homemade cheese ready. Place the cheese in the mold and place in the refrigerator to harden.

II. 3 liters of milk, 1 kg of cottage cheese, 10 eggs, 3 tablespoons of salt.

Combine cottage cheese with eggs and salt. Boil the milk and put it in the boiling milk curd mass. Cook over low heat for 20 minutes. Once everything has curled up, discard it on cheesecloth.

III. The curd is thrown onto a sieve lined with a piece of clean cloth to drain the whey. Then transfer it into a bowl, sprinkle with fine salt (1 tablespoon of salt per 1 kg of cottage cheese) and grind until an evenly crushed soft mass is obtained or pass through a meat grinder 2-3 times. If the cottage cheese is low-fat, you can add a little cream or sour cream. The mass is placed in linen bags, tightly filled with 500-800 g of well-pounded mass, after which the bags are tied and placed under pressure, covered with planks. The cottage cheese is pressed for 5-10 hours without drying it out. Then place in the refrigerator, turning from time to time. If mold appears, wash with salted water and dry in a draft.

IV. Freshly prepared cottage cheese is passed through a meat grinder together with salt twice and left for 5 days in a dry room. The yellowed cottage cheese is mixed again, transferred to a greased pan and cooked over low heat, stirring all the time, until a liquid homogeneous mass is formed. The full mass is poured into small saucepans or other dishes. After it cools and hardens, the cheese is ready.

V. To prepare 1 kg of cheese, take 8 ½ glasses low-fat cottage cheese, 2 ½ tablespoons butter or ghee, 4 teaspoons baking soda and 3 teaspoons fine salt. The drained cottage cheese is passed through a meat grinder several times. Place cottage cheese in a bowl, sprinkle half the amount of salt and soda on top, and then begin to heat it slowly, stirring continuously with a wooden spatula. If, during the heating process, whey appears on the surface of the curd and at the walls of the dish, close the dish with a lid, remove from heat for 10-15 minutes, then remove the settled whey. If the whey cannot be separated, the remaining amount of soda is added to it and the mixture continues to be heated. After the cheese mass melts well and thickens somewhat, add melted butter. The remaining salt is added 15-20 minutes before the end of cooking. The finished cheese mass should be a homogeneous stretchy mass. The cheese mass is poured into a mold or other container, greased with oil and taken to a cool place. To remove the cooled cheese from the dish, it must be immersed in hot water for a few seconds.

Rusakova Eva, student of 3rd grade "A"

Eva carried out the research work “Why there are holes in cheese” under my supervision. The material was collected from literature, the Internet, and processed. Together we decided what kind of research to conduct. Eva and her mother made cheese at home. Eva presented this work at a city research competition and took first place. The work was sent to the website of the pedagogical academy and received the title of Laureate.

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MUNICIPAL EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION "LYCEUM No. 8"

CITY OF NOVOALTAISK, ALTAI REGION"

CITY RESEARCH COMPETITION

WORKS AND CREATIVE PROJECTS OF PRESCHOOL CHILDREN AND PRIMARY SCHOOL CHILDREN

"YOUNG RESEARCHER IN HOMETOWN"

Student of class 3A

Scientific supervisor: Matveeva Nina Vasilievna,

primary school teacher

City of Novoaltaisk, 2010

Object and subject of research……………….…………………………………..3

Hypothesis…………………………………………………………………………………3

Goal and objectives……………………………………………………………………………….3

Methods…….…………………..………………………………………………………….....3

Research plan…………………...……………………………………3 - 4

Relevance of the chosen topic……………………………………………………………4

History of the origin of cheese……………………………………………………….5 - 6

Why are there holes in cheese?................................................. ......................................... 7 – 8

How cheese is made………………………………………………………8 – 10

Experiment. Making cheese at home……………….10 -12

Cheese recipes……………………………………………………………….12 -13

Conclusion………………………………………………………………13 - 15

Used literature…………………………………………………………….. 16

Object of study:

Different types of cheeses

Subject of study:

Formation of holes in cheese

Hypothesis:

Holes in cheese can form during the cheese making process during fermentation and the release of bubbles.

Purpose of the study:

Find out why some cheeses have holes and others don't.

Tasks:

learn to use additional literature;
learn to work on the Internet;

study material about cheese production;

describe the search activity;

make cheese at home;

summarize the received materials.

Methods:

observation
experiment
generalization

Study plan:

collect material about cheese production;
study scientific and reference literature;
conduct an experiment on making cheese at home;
draw conclusions;
write a report;
to make a presentation

Relevance of the chosen topic.

Why do we want to find out?

One two three four -

Let's count the holes in the cheese...

If the cheese has a lot of holes,

That means it's a delicious cheese.

If there is one hole in it,

It means it was delicious yesterday!

I love cheese very much, and my mother often buys it. Cheese is one of the most nutritious foods. And if you look at it carefully, you can see holes and for some reason they are of different sizes.

I wondered, why are there holes in the cheese?

Maybe half the mouse was eaten? After all, not all cheeses have holes.

Maybe these are former bubbles?

What if they shoot it from a gun and the holes are round?

I began to look for answers in books. From them I learned that there are different types of cheeses: hard, soft. Some with holes, some without.

Why does this happen: some cheeses have large, round eyes, reaching a diameter of 4 cm, others have tiny, barely noticeable eyes, and still others don’t have them at all?

From the Internet I found out:

The word “Cheese” comes from the Latin caseus, from which the word “casein” also comes - the main component of milk, the protein that is the basis of cheese.

Early history

Cheese was a common food item in ancient times. Scientists believe that people began to eat it as early as the 8th millennium BC, when sheep were domesticated. It is believed that the process of making cheese was found in the Middle East or by nomadic Turkish tribes living in Central Asia. For them, the task of preserving food during long marches was urgent; moreover, for this they often used skins and internal organs animals. Milk in such “reservoirs” (stomachs) was curdled into cottage cheese, and under certain circumstances a product could well have been obtained - the prototype of modern cheese.

The first archaeological evidence of cheese making came from excavations in ancient Egypt in the form of cave murals dating back over 2000 BC. Most likely this cheese was very sour and salty, since a large number of salt was necessary to improve the preservation of cheese in the hot Egyptian climate.

History of cheese

There are many legends about the origin of cheese. The most widespread and plausible of them is the legend about the Arabian merchant Kanan, who lived four thousand years ago. One fine morning he set off on a long journey, taking food and milk with him. The day was hot, and after some time the merchant became exhausted. He stopped to quench his thirst, but instead of milk, a watery liquid flowed from the vessel. A white dense clot was found at the bottom. Kanan tried it and was pleased with the taste. Being a simple and ingenuous man, the merchant shared his discovery with his neighbors. Soon the secret of making cheese became known to many nomadic tribes. From Arabia, cheese came to Europe.

The ancient Greeks had their own explanation of the origin of cheese, more like a beautiful fairy tale. They believed that Artemis, the goddess of the hunt and patroness of animals, taught people how to make cheese. And even the gods themselves feasted on cheese at feasts, washing it down with wine. It is not surprising that some ancient religious cults were associated with cheese. Residents of Crete, for example, sacrificed special flat cheeses to the gods. And the priests of Athens were strictly forbidden to try this product. Cheese was also known to the Assyrians. They explained the greatness of their queen Semiramis by the fact that birds stole cheese for her from the shepherds.
The ancient Romans also revered cheese. They were sure that it had a beneficial effect on digestion and used it as an antidote for poisoning. Mention of cheese is found in Homer’s poem “Odyssey”, in Virgil. Pliny the Elder's Natural History lists the types of cheeses brought to Rome. It is characteristic that cheese is invariably praised as a life-giving, healthy, even “divine” product.

The oldest recipe in the world is 2000 years old. It belongs to the Persians. It says that cheese should be made from milk “sheep or cow, dried in the sun and flavored with fragrant roots.” One of the old ones English recipes is also contained in the cookbook of the court cook of King Richard II.

Why are there holes in cheese?

Where did the word come from"cheese"?

We can say that the word “cheese” has always been there. Our ancestors used it, but they meant cottage cheese. Cheese began to be called cheese quite recently. Why "cheese"? From the word “raw”, “whey”. Serum is like this curd product. There is a technology by which cheese is made from milk (which becomes whey). And so it took root: from cheese comes cheese.

Cheese – it’s like very, very dense milk. Cheeses are made in special factories - cheese factories. Cheeses can be soft and hard, brined and processed, and even with mold. Dutch cheeses, French, Italian, Swiss, Greek. Almost every country can boast of its own cheese.

Cheese - a highly nutritious food product made from curdled (sour) milk. Usually light yellow in color, it comes with or without “holes” (cavities).

It turns out that holes in cheese are formed due to the release of carbon dioxide during the fermentation process. To coagulate milk and obtain a curd of cheese in cheese making, different starter cultures are used: either lactic acid (large holes), or rennet (small holes), and sometimes both. Sourdough contains bacteria. The bacteria are very, very small. They can only be seen with a microscope. While the cheese is ripening, acid bacteria live in it and produce carbon dioxide. The gas cannot escape from the dense cheese and swells, causing air bubbles of varying sizes to form inside the cheese. When we cut cheese into slices, the bubbles are cut and we get holes or, as they are also called, eyes.

The formation of eyes depends on the elasticity of the cheese mass and the timing of cheese ripening. Microorganisms that live in cheese and participate in the fermentation process emit carbon dioxide and form carbon dioxide. The more mature and harder the cheese, the larger the holes.

The presence of holes of different sizes is characteristic feature many cheeses. Previously, it was believed that they appear due to the fermentation of milk sugar. Later, as a result of research into cheese making, masters found out that milk sugar disappears almost in the first days of its production,holes begin to form only on the 20th day.It is from this moment that during the fermentation of milk salts that react with acids, bacteria, calcium acetate and carbon dioxide are formed. Accumulating in small voids of the cheese, carbon dioxide forms holes. But their size and shape depend on the chemical composition of the gases in the holes. For example, in the world famous Swiss cheese, the diameter of the hole can be 2 cm. The concentration of gases is not the same in different varieties cheese.

How is cheese made?

My mother and I called the creamery in Barnaul, we wanted to go and see the technology for making cheese. But we were told that they could not disclose their manufacturing technology. Therefore, we found the answer to our question on the Internet.

During this period, the cheese “ferments”. Carbon dioxide is formed inside the pressed but still soft “dough”, which accumulates and is released in the form of bubbles. The more carbon dioxide, the more the bubbles swell. Then the cheese hardens, and inside it appears a picture of the internal “breath” of fermenting cheese in the form of carbon dioxide bubbles. The pressure in the bubbles is transmitted equally in all directions. Therefore, the bubbles are strictly round in shape. Deviation from this rule will mean that in some place inside there are seals or, conversely, voids in the “dough”.

The harder the cheese, the less the inner bubble swells, the smaller the hole.

Some cheeses are not subject to high pressure processing

(Russian), in them the release of carbon dioxide occurs into existing voids of irregular shape. When cut, such cheeses do not have the regular shape of frozen bubbles, but rather an intricate pattern.

"Big-eyed" cheeses are often the subject of ridicule. Peter I, while in Holland, was treated to cheese. He was outraged when he was given an outlandish product with large holes. He exclaimed: “Why are you giving me cheese that was eaten by mice?”

But in 2001, the American authorities established the maximum diameter of a cheese eye of no more than 2 cm.

There are different types of cheeses for different tastes. Cheese acquires its flavor during ripening and cooking. Maturation occurs in special storage facilities under strict temperature and humidity control.

Having learned from the Internet how cheese is made, I asked my mother a question:

Can you make cheese at home?

It turned out that it is possible.

Making cheese at home

For making cheeseat homeI took the following products:

1 liter of milk;
1 kilogram of cottage cheese;
2 eggs;
100 grams of butter;
1 teaspoon of soda;
2 teaspoons salt.

I take cottage cheese and milk and mix. When the whey appears, I drain it in a colander. I wait 40 minutes. I take butter, soda, salt and add to the resulting mass. Mix everything together again and put it on low heat.

Stirring, cook until thickened (about 40 minutes). I pour everything into a round dish - a saucepan or plate - and when it cools down, I put it in the refrigerator.

If desired, you can use a washed milk carton if you want the cheese to be shaped like a brick.

This cheese tastes like Suluguni cheese.

Try it, very tasty!

But there were no holes in the cheese I made. Probably due to the fact that when making cheese at a factory, bubbles form on the 20th day, but I made my cheese in 2 hours.

I can offer you a few more recipes(taken from the Internet)

1 kg of cottage cheese, 1 liter of milk, 100 g of butter, 50 g of vegetable oil, 1 teaspoon of salt, 2 eggs, 1 teaspoon of soda, 3 tablespoons of vinegar.

Heat the milk, add cottage cheese to it. Cook the mixture for 10 minutes, stirring continuously. When the cottage cheese has curdled, place it on cheesecloth and squeeze thoroughly. Then put the squeezed cottage cheese in a clean pan, add butter, eggs, salt and mix everything. Place back on medium heat and cook, stirring. At the end of cooking, add soda and vinegar and mix thoroughly again to obtain a homogeneous mass. When the cottage cheese begins to fall off the walls, the homemade cheese is ready. Place the cheese in the mold and place in the refrigerator to harden.

The curd is thrown onto a sieve lined with a piece of clean cloth to drain the whey. Then transfer it into a bowl, sprinkle with fine salt (1 tablespoon of salt per 1 kg of cottage cheese) and grind until an evenly crushed soft mass is obtained or pass through a meat grinder 2-3 times. If the cottage cheese is low-fat, you can add a little cream or sour cream. The mass is placed in linen bags, tightly filled with 500-800 g of well-pounded mass, after which the bags are tied and placed under pressure, covered with planks. The cottage cheese is pressed for 5-10 hours without drying it out. Then place in the refrigerator, turning from time to time. When mold appears, wash it

salted water and dry in a draft.

Freshly prepared cottage cheese is passed through a meat grinder together with salt twice and left for 5 days in a dry room. The yellowed cottage cheese is mixed again, transferred to a greased pan and cooked over low heat, stirring all the time, until a liquid homogeneous mass is formed. The full mass is poured into small saucepans or other dishes. After it cools and hardens, the cheese is ready.

To prepare 1 kg of cheese, take 8 ½ cups of low-fat cottage cheese, 2 ½ tablespoons of butter or ghee, 4 teaspoons of baking soda and 3 teaspoons of fine salt. The drained cottage cheese is passed through a meat grinder several times. Place cottage cheese in a bowl, sprinkle half the amount of salt and soda on top, and then begin to heat it slowly, stirring continuously with a wooden spatula. If, during the heating process, whey appears on the surface of the cottage cheese and near the walls of the dish, close the dish with a lid, remove from heat for 10-15 minutes, then remove the settled whey. If the whey cannot be separated, the remaining amount of soda is added to it and the mixture continues to be heated. After the cheese mass melts well and thickens somewhat, add melted butter. The remaining salt is added 15-20 minutes before the end of cooking. The finished cheese mass should be a homogeneous stretchy mass. Pour the cheese mixture into a greased mold or other container and place in a cool place. To remove the cooled cheese from the dish, it must be immersed in hot water for a few seconds.

Conclusion:

Version about mice.

Tell,

Who ruined the cheese?

Who did it in it

So many holes?

Anyway,

Not me! -

Hastily grunted

Pig.

Mysterious! -

Goose exclaimed. -

And ha-guess

I don't dare!

The sheep said, almost crying:

An insanely difficult task!

Everything is unclear, everything is foggy -

Better ask

At Baran's!

All evil comes from cats! - said,

Smelling the cheese

Yard dog. -

Like two and two are four,

They make holes in the cheese!

And the Cat snorted angrily from the roof:

Who sharpens the holes?

Clearly - mice!

But then God brought Crow.

Hooray!

She will solve the issue.

After all, as you know,

She has

For cheese

Special flair!

And so it was instructed

Vorone

Check case

Comprehensive...

Hurrying to solve the mystery of the holes,

Crow

Deepened

Into the cheese.

Here

Holes

Wider,

Wider...

Where's the cheese?

Forget the cheese!

Robbery! Robbery! Razor! A shame!

Flew up onto the fence

Crow

And she stated

Offended:

Well, you know, this is nitpicking!

You

Interested

Holes?

So what's the deal?

I ate cheese

And the holes -

All! -

Remained intact!

This was the end of the dispute,

And that's why

Still,

Alas,

No one knows

In the world,

Where does it come from?

Holes in the cheese!

One two three four -
Let's count the holes in the cheese.
If the cheese has a lot of holes,
This means the cheese will be delicious.
If there is one hole in it,
So it was delicious yesterday.

References:

P.V.Shilov “Cheese, cottage cheese, milk.”

Profizdat; 2007.

O.A. Aleksandrova “Let’s count the holes in the cheese”

Dragonfly – Press, 2005.

Materials from the Internet.

“Why are you giving me cheese that was eaten by mice?” - Tsar Peter I exclaimed in anger when he was first treated to Dutch hard cheese in Holland. But, having figured out what was what and appreciating the taste of this outlandish product, Peter invited Dutch cheese makers to Russia so that Russian people could also become familiar with European cuisine. Although, it should be said that the Slavs have long been preparing cheese obtained as a result of the natural coagulation of milk, i.e. without heat treatment, the so-called “raw” method, hence the name cheese. This cheese was more like cottage cheese and different from European ones. hard cheeses. In addition, it was not particularly popular among the Slavs and was not their number one product. Naturally, this state of affairs did not contribute to the development of mass cheese making, so we can say with confidence that the history of cheese making in Russia began under Peter I.

Well, what about the holes that so angered Peter I, where do they come from in the cheese? And everything is very simple. We all know that cheese is obtained as a result of milk fermentation, which is facilitated by lactic acid bacteria. So, the movement of these bacteria causes increased formation of carbon dioxide. The released carbon dioxide accumulates in the microcavities of the ripening cheese, creating peculiar bubbles that cannot rise to the surface due to the viscous consistency of the cheese mass. Eventually, they harden, causing holes to form in the cheese, but they do not form immediately, but on the twentieth or thirtieth day of cheese ripening. By the way, master cheese makers and true cheese connoisseurs will never say “holes”; they call the resulting holes “eyes”.

And the shape and size of the eyes depends on the properties of the cheese mass, the chemical composition of the gases formed and the intensity of their accumulation and release. In addition to carbon dioxide (50 - 90%), during the ripening of cheese, nitrogen (6.3 - 48%), oxygen (up to 0.2%) and even hydrogen (up to 3%) can be released. For example, with the rapid release of carbon dioxide in the cheese mass, many small eyes are formed, as in Dutch cheeses, and with a slow release, large eyes are obtained, but in small quantities, for example, Swiss cheeses. The world famous Swiss cheese Emmental has eyes with a diameter of two to four centimeters. And there are also completely blind cheeses, without eyes. These include very hard, aged cheeses such as Parmesan and most soft cheeses.

Thus, cheese eyes are bubbles formed as a result of the release of carbon dioxide during the fermentation process, and the shape and number of eyes depends on the enzymes used to prepare the cheese, heat treatment and cooking technology. As you can see, cheese eyes do not form chaotically, this is a completely controlled process. In many cheese factories, ripening cheeses are even subjected to a special ultrasound examination to check whether there are any flaws in the formation of the eyes, whether they have the correct shape and quantity.

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Sometimes questions come to our minds, the answers to which are logical from the point of view of experts, but are not obvious. Why is the sky blue and the grass green? Why does it get dark at night? Why do Swiss cheese have such big holes? About how cheese got its distinctive feature, for which (at least in part) he is loved all over the world - we will tell you below.

Holes in cheese as part of production

The classic version says that holes in cheese appear due to the content of certain bacteria in it. According to cheese historian Paul Kindstedt, it all starts with the fact that Swiss cheese comes from the Alps. And although the alpine landscapes look picturesque on the packaging, it is important to understand that these are still mountains, which for a long time left the work of cheesemakers in a certain sense medieval. The cheese had to travel a long way, and this required that the wheel of cheese remain as dry as possible during the delivery process.

In an attempt to optimize the process, cheese factories have developed new tools to maintain higher temperatures, with special presses to remove excess moisture from the cheese. The result was a product with the correct elasticity and sufficient low content acids and salts, which was achieved by increasing the number of bacteria Propionibacterium freudenreichii. It is the by-products of the metabolism of these bacteria that give Swiss cheese its nutty flavor and also create holes in it.

Although holes were inevitable in the production of quality cheese, over time they acquired a special value. As chemist and author of The Science of Cheese Mike Tunick notes, holes have become what people have been waiting for. Imagine how upset we would be if cheese suddenly became less “holey.” Nothing terrible from a utility standpoint, but the product would definitely look less appetizing as time has made us fall in love with its appearance.

But - oh, horror - this really happens. Walter Bisig, an employee of the Swiss government research center Agroscope, notes in an interview with The New Yorker that over the past 10-15 years, Swiss cheese has become less big-eyed. Naturally, Bisig and his colleagues in the processing technology group food products showed interest in what was happening.

Holes in cheese are caused by hay

The main problem was that there were too many things that could affect the texture of the cheese. According to experts from the University of Iowa, cheese sometimes suffers from an overabundance of small holes, irregular holes, or the “blindness” effect, when there are holes in the cheese, but on the cut they are blocked by a thin layer of cheese mass. Each of these deficiencies has a number of possible sources, including curds that may be too acidic or stable to storage temperatures, causing disruptions in bacterial performance.

The other problem, besides the fickleness of the cheese itself, was that no one until now knew how the holes decided where to appear. One theory, for example, stated that carbon dioxide accumulates in "weaker places in the cheese matrix." Other experts were confident that the “eyes” formed around some kind of nuclei, just as raindrops stick to specks of dust.

Ultimately, it was possible to establish that the size and number of holes depended on the time of appearance of the cheese. Thus, more “blind” cheeses are born in the summer, and more “big-eyed” ones, on the contrary, in the winter. This made it possible to see the connection with the fact that in summer cows mainly feed on fresh grass, and in winter on hay.

This way, the researchers came to the “hay theory,” which states that it is the microscopic particles of hay in milk that become the nuclei around which holes form. Experiments with the production of cheese using pure milk, filtered from any impurities, confirmed it - there were almost no holes in the cheese. Swiss scientists from Agroscope suggest that hay affects not only the presence or absence of holes, but also their characteristics: the less hay in the milk, the larger they will eventually turn out.

Were you interested in Holes?
So what's the deal? I ate cheese
And the holes are everything! - remained intact!
This was the end of the dispute,
And that's why it's still
Alas, no one in the world knows
Where do the holes in the cheese come from?

Jan BRZECHWA
Holes in cheese
Translation by B. Zakhoder

There are quite a few legends about the origin of cheese. One of the most beautiful of them says that one day the Arabian merchant Kanan set off early in the morning on a long journey through the desert. He took with him some food and milk, poured into a traditional vessel for nomads - a dried sheep's stomach. In the evening, the merchant stopped for the night and decided to drink milk before going to bed. But... instead of milk, a watery liquid (whey) flowed from the sheep's stomach, and a white lump appeared inside the vessel. Kanan decided to try a piece of this clot and was unexpectedly pleasantly surprised by the taste of the new product. This is how cheese was born, and this event happened more than four thousand years ago. Soon the method of making cheese became known to many Arabian tribes, and from there the cheese came to Europe.

The presence of eyes of a certain size and shape (in everyday life we say “holes”, but this is the wrong name and cheese makers will never say that) is a characteristic feature Swiss cheeses. The first researchers of this issue believed that the eyes are formed as a result of the fermentation of milk sugar. However, more thorough studies have shown that milk sugar in cheese decomposes in the first days after its production, while eyes are formed only on the 20th to 30th day. The simultaneity of the appearance of eyes in cheese with the formation of acetic and propionic acids during the fermentation of lactic acid salts was established. This is confirmed by the release of propionic acid bacteria that decompose calcium lactic acid to form propionic acid, calcium acetate and carbon dioxide. For chemistry buffs, here is the equation for this reaction:

3(С3H5O3)2Ca -> 2(C3H5O2)2Ca +(C2H3O2)2Ca+2CO2+2H2O

The released carbon dioxide accumulates in the microcavities of the cheese, forming a bubble that does not float to the surface due to the viscosity of the cheese mass. As they harden, eyes form as a result. Chemical composition gases in the eyes showed that the contents contained mainly carbon dioxide (50-89%) and nitrogen (6.3-48%). Oxygen occurs in trace form (less than 0.2%), and hydrogen is present in trace amounts (0-3.3%).

The more mature and harder the type of cheese, the larger the holes in it. In addition, the size of the eyes depends on which enzymes are involved in their formation: rennet produces small holes, lactic acid formed in milk when adding lactic acid starters produces large holes. In the US, there is even a law for the size of holes that says that the diameter of the holes in cheese should be between a third and three-quarters of an inch. Converted to the metric system (with Swiss precision) this corresponds to 0.9525 and 2.06375 centimeters. This is contrary to the Dutch cheese quality standard. In fact the right cheese the diameter of the holes is from one to four centimeters. Only with this size of the eyes can the cheese be considered properly aged and of high quality.

Big eyes durum varieties cheeses such as Gouda, Edam, Maasdam fri-co, Emmental. In soft cheeses, as well as in very hard, aged varieties, the dough is completely “blind”. To check whether there are any flaws in the formation of the eyes and whether they have the “correct” outline, at some enterprises ripening cheeses are subjected to ultrasound examination. This is a fast and convenient way: cheese makers receive information about the cheese ripening process, while the cheese heads remain safe and sound. They say that once Peter I, while in Holland, became acquainted with local cheese. He allegedly became indignant when he was served an outlandish product with large holes, and exclaimed: “Why are you giving me cheese that was eaten by mice?!”

Nevertheless Dutch cheeses with their “holes”, enjoy constant popularity. The eyes give the cheese a particularly appetizing appearance.

One two three four -
Let's count the holes in the cheese.
If the cheese has a lot of holes,
This means the cheese will be delicious.
If there is one hole in it,
So it was delicious yesterday.