Hoop cheese refers to two different cheeses: a hard cheese similar to cheddar, and a crumbly cheese similar to dry-curd cottage cheese. The hard version is a traditional cow's milk cheese that was common in the

Southern United States The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, Dixieland, or simply the South) is List of regions of the United States, census regions defined by the United States Cens ...

from the early to mid 1900s. It is still available today, although it is much less common. The crumbly version is a simple cheese prepared by separating the whey from curds. Today, the American Dairy Association has no criteria in place to classify hoop cheese, although it has sometimes been referred to as a type of

pot cheese Pot cheese is a type of soft, crumbly, unaged cheese. It is very simple to make and also highly versatile, making it a very popular cheese, but it may be hard to find in stores. Pot cheese is in the midway stage between cottage cheese and farmer ...

Overview

Hoop cheese is a simple, traditional fresh cow's milk cheese, prepared by pressing curds until the

whey Whey is the liquid remaining after milk has been curdled and strained. It is a byproduct of the manufacturing of cheese or casein and has several commercial uses. Sweet whey is a byproduct resulting from the manufacture of rennet types of hard c ...

is entirely pressed-out, leaving the final cheese product. This involves the use of a cheese hoop, a ring of wood used to press out and separate the whey from the completed cheese, typically with cheesecloth, whereby the whey drains out through the cloth and the hoop cheese remains atop. Using this preparation method, the cheese is typically pressed into rounds and then wrapped in cheesecloth or parchment paper or sealed in wax. Hoop cheese has been described as a "truly low-fat" product. It has a firm, but not hard, consistency, and has been described as being similar to

farmer cheese Farmer's cheese is pressed curds or an unripened cheese made by adding rennet and bacterial starter to coagulate and acidify milk. Farmer's cheese may be made from the milk of cows, sheep or goats, with each giving its own texture and flavor. ...

and as having a creamy texture. In contemporary times, it is sometimes packaged with a coating of red wax. Hoop cheese can be difficult to find commercially in some areas of the United States, due to the difficulty of automating the manufacturing process and because it has a short

shelf life Shelf life is the length of time that a commodity may be stored without becoming unfit for use, consumption, or sale. In other words, it might refer to whether a commodity should no longer be on a pantry shelf (unfit for use), or no longer on a s ...

. It used to be a common cheese product in the Southern United States in the early to mid 1900s. Today, it can still be found at some roadside stands, small restaurants, grocers, farmers markets and independent gas stations in the Southern United States.

Classification

Today, the American Dairy Association has no criteria or standards in place to define what specifically constitutes hoop cheese. A 1915 Department Reports of the State of New York entry characterized hoop cheese as a type of

History

As an example of its commercial production, hoop cheese was mass-produced in the 1910s in Otsego County, New York and shipped along with farmer cheese to New York on the

New York Central Railroad The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected New York metropolitan area, gr ...

. During this time period hoop and farmer cheeses were packed in cans and boxes in 100-pound increments. Hoop cheese was also packed for commercial transport in this manner through the 1920s in New York state. Hoop cheese was once so common that a device called a hoop cheese cutter was manufactured and used in general stores during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The hoop cheese cutter was patented in 1905 in the United States and resembled a turntable with a knife blade suspended above it. It was built by scale companies of the period to cut to order the exact amount of cheese a customer wanted.

Similar foods

Hoop cheese is different from farmer cheese in that farmer cheese is made with

milk Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of lactating mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfeeding, breastfed human infants) before they are able to digestion, digest solid food. ...

cream Cream is a dairy product composed of the higher-fat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. In un-homogenized milk, the fat, which is less dense, eventually rises to the top. In the industrial production of cream, this proces ...

, and

salt In common usage, salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl). When used in food, especially in granulated form, it is more formally called table salt. In the form of a natural crystalline mineral, salt is also known as r ...

, while hoop cheese is made from milk alone.

Notes

References

External links

Hoop Cheese
Cook's Info.
Hoop Cheese
Vaya.in.
The Computing Cheese Cutter
. Bobpritchett.com. {{american cheeses American cheeses Cow's-milk cheeses