Feta-Cheese-art

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Feta-Cheese-art - 10/7/18

"Feta Cheese - A short study of the brine cured white cheese" by T.H.L. Eidiard an Gobihainn.

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Feta Cheese -

A short study of the brine cured white cheese

By T.H.L. Eidiard an Gobihainn

Feta

Feta is a cheese that is salted and cured in brine solution (which can be either water or whey). Feta cheese is white, usually formed into square cakes, and can range from soft to semi-hard, with a tangy, salty flavor that can range from mild to sharp. Its fat content can range from 30 to 60 percent; most is around 45 percent milk fat.

Traditional feta cheese is made from sheep, goats and or cows milk. The cheese is made in blocks which are salted, sliced and then salted again, before being left for up to a month to mature.

Feta cheese is first recorded in the Byzantine Empire, under the name πρόσφατος (prósphatos, "recent", i.e. fresh), and was associated specifically with Crete. An Italian visitor to Candia in 1494 describes its storage in brine clearly.[1] The Greek word "feta" comes from the Italian word fetta ("slice")[2]. Turkish cheese called Beyaz Peynir uses essentially the same recipe.[3] Similar cheeses are common in Albania (djath), Bulgaria (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sirene" title=Sirene>sirene сирене), the British Isles ,the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (бело сирење, belo http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sirenje" title=Sirenje>sirenje; white cheese), Serbia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sirene" title=Sirene>sir сир), Turkey (beyaz peynir 'white cheese'), Egypt (gibna bayda), Romania (brânză telemea), Russia (brynza, брынза), Ukraine (brynza, бринза), Iran (panir bulqäri), Malta (Ġbejna tan- nagħaġ) , and other countries. In some of these countries, the name "feta" is used interchangeably with the native, while in others "feta" is not used at all or refers to completely other (mainly imported) types of cheese.[4] Brine pickled cheeses are simple to document all through Europe and the Mediterranean basin as a good way to store cheese.

Materials:

Milk-

I used a blend of whole cow's milk and whole cream to make a liquor that as closely as possible approximates traditional whole, un-pasteurized cow's milk as would be found in period. I did this for health and safety reasons as well as the lack of availability of whole unprocessed milk in my area. While sheep and goat's milk are used cow's milk is considered to be just as viable a material for feta.[3]

Sea Salts –

La Baleine, Salins du Midi, is a Mediterranean Sea salt produced in the Aigues-Mortes saltworks, in Camargue, France. Salt has been produced on this site since before the Roman occupation. It is gathered from the salt-pan at Aigues-Mortes, a protected area covering some 10,800 hectares of untamed land, approximately the same size as inner-city Paris. On this natural site, where wildlife and flora remain untouched, salt has been gathered since Antiquity when the Roman engineer, Peccius, was in charge of production. [5] I chose this salt in particular because it is a Mediterranean source as well as its long term usage as a salt site that would have been in operation in period and its export to many areas is known.

White vinegar-

Well known to ancient people throughout the known world, vinegar takes many forms. Wine vinegar is one of the most common in period, being made from soured wine. Different uses for vinegar as a cooking additive or processor are well documented in "Digby's" [6] but also in "The Forme of Cury" [7] compiled in 1390. Most commercially available white vinegars are made from a 5% acetic acid solution, which is derived from grains, and mixed with water. It can also be manufactured by oxidizing a distilled alcohol. These methods were known as early as 3000 BC; the making of homemade vinegar was being phased out by 2000 BC when vinegar production became largely a commercial industry clear into modern day. [8]

Rennet-

Rennet is a natural complex of enzymes produced in any mammalian stomach to digest the mother's milk. Rennet contains an enzyme (protease) that coagulates the milk, causing it to separate into solids (curds) and liquid (whey). The active enzyme in rennet is called rennin or chymosin but there are also other important enzymes in it, e.g., pepsin or lipase. Natural calf rennet is extracted from the inner mucosa of the fourth stomach chamber (the abomasum) of young calves. These stomachs are a by-product of veal production. If rennet is extracted from older calves (grass-fed or grain-fed) the rennet contains less or no chymosin but a high level of pepsin and can only be used for special types of milk and cheeses. As each ruminant produces a special kind of rennet to digest the milk of its own mother, there are milk-specific rennets available, such as kid-goat rennet especially for goats' milk and lamb-rennet for sheep-milk. Rennet or digestion enzymes from other animals, like swine-pepsin, are not used in cheese production.

Muslin-

I used unbleached and tightly woven bleached muslin for my cheese cloths as it is readily available and much better than what we now call cheese cloth. This name is totally improper for the usage as it will not strain nor does it make for a good protection of the cheese. Period cheese cloth was much closer to what we now call muslin.

Methods

While the amounts are different the methods are not too dissimilar:

"Take twelve quarts of Milk warm from the Cow, turn it with a good spoonful of Runnet. Break it well, and put it into a large strainer, in which rowl it up and down, that all the Whey may run out into a little tub; when all that will is run out, wring out more. Then break the curds well; then wring it again and more whey will come. Thus break and wring till no more come. Then work the Curds exceedingly with your hand in a tray, till they become a short uniform Paste."[5]

I combined 3 quarts of whole milk with one quart of cream and mixed well. This mix was then heated to about 194°F/90°C and held that temperature for 30 minutes. This allowed the milk mix to become a proper growth medium. I then pitched it with 1 cup of white vinegar and one tablet of rennet. This was then allowed to set for 16 hours covered tightly. Once it had set the curd was cut into chunks and mixed, then allowed to set another 3 hours, covered tightly. The curds and whey were then transferred to a draining bag of simple unbleached muslin and then salted with 1 tablespoon of sea salt. It was then mixed again and hung up to drain over a basin, squeezing it about every 15 minutes and remixing it for about 3 hours. Once sufficiently drained it was then transferred to a press (see footnote 1) to further drive out moisture and begins to solidify the cheese. Pressure was added until it had been compressed/ dehydrated to about one quarter of its previous volume. The press was tightened about every 15 minutes to keep the pressure on and the force even for a more consistent cheese. I then removed the cheese from the press and broke them up in a bowl and added 1 tsp of salt. I then repacked them in the press and tightened it again.

I then boiled water and drew off 1 quart into a container with as much salt as would dissolve in it to make a saturated brine solution of about 12% salt to preserve the cheese.

After 12 hours of pressing the cheese mass was taken from the press and placed in the brine solution to cure. It has been allowed to rest and temper there for 5 days at about 48-52 degrees.

References:

1. Andrew Dalby, "Alexander's Culinary Legacy" p. 190, Prospect Books, 1996 Awarded the Sophie Coe Prize in Food History, 1996

2. Court of Justice of the European Communities, Communique 25 Oct 2005

3. David B. Fankhauser, PhD, University of Cincinnati Clermont College - http://biology.clc.uc.edu/fankhauser/Cheese/Feta.htm

4. Similar cheeses around the world http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feta_cheese#_note-0

5. La Baleine, Salins du Midi http://www.saltworks.us/shop/product.asp?idProduct=63

6. The Closet of the Eminently Learned Sir Kenelme Digby, 1699, http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/16441

7. The Forme of Cury-A Roll of Ancient English Cookery ,1390 http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/8102

8. The Vinegar Institute, Vinegar Lore http://www.versatilevinegar.org/vinegarlore.html

Footnotes:

1: I constructed the press from modern plastics and threaded rod as it is well understood that many bacteria can be transferred from wooden presses. This is mostly due to the inability to sterilize it sufficiently. Many modern wooden presses also incorporate aromatic woods (like cedar) for a more traditional appearance, but this has a tendency to impart unwanted flavors to the cheese. While period, it is not desirable to the modern pallet.

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Copyright 2018 by Bryian Winner. <eidiard at gmail.com>. Permission is granted for republication in SCA-related publications, provided the author is credited. Addresses change, but a reasonable attempt should be made to ensure that the author is notified of the publication and if possible receives a copy.

If this article is reprinted in a publication, please place a notice in the publication that you found this article in the Florilegium. I would also appreciate an email to myself, so that I can track which articles are being reprinted. Thanks. -Stefan.