Thursday, May 15, 2008

Cheese Facts and Myths

Question #1: Is it OK to Freeze Cheese?

Most cheeses do not freeze well. Only soft, unripened cheeses like cream cheese, cottage cheese, mascarpone and ricotta can be frozen without becoming ruined. And even then they should be used only in cooking after thawing.

Soft-ripened cheeses like Brie or Camembert should not be frozen, nor should just about any other cheese. Most cheeses lose both texture and flavor during the freezing process.

Question #2: Do Cheeses Made from Sheep and Goat Milk Contain Less Lactose?

This question is important to those who suffer from lactose-intolerance but who enjoy the taste of cheese. In spite of what you may have heard, sheep milk and goat milk do not contain lesser amounts of lactose. According to an article by Phillip Collman (Ph.D., gastrointestinal physiology) in the Ontario Cheese Society newsletter, the lactose content for all three species is around 4.5%. Collman's advice to lactose-intolerant cheese lovers is to select aged cheeses: "The longer a dairy product has been aged, the more lactose is converted into lactic acid, which doesn’t cause any gastrointestinal discomfort."

1 comment:

  1. lactose content in milk does not reflect lactose in cheese....during the cheesemaking process, most lactose stays in the whey. When the whey is drained from the curds, the majority of it is gone. What's left is reduced even further through aging.

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