
Smoked cheese is any
cheese
Cheese is a type of dairy product produced in a range of flavors, textures, and forms by coagulation of the milk protein casein. It comprises proteins and fat from milk (usually the milk of cows, buffalo, goats or sheep). During prod ...
that has been specially treated by
smoke-curing.
It typically has a yellowish-brown outer
pellicle which is a result of this curing process.
Process
Smoke-curing is typically done in one of two ways: cold-smoking and hot-smoking.
The cold-smoking method (which can take up to a month, depending on the food) smokes the food at between 20° and 30°
C (68° and 86°
F). Hot-smoking partially or completely cooks the food by treating it at temperatures ranging from 40° to 90 °C (104° to 194°
F).
Another method, typically used in less expensive cheeses, is to use artificial
smoke flavoring to give the cheese a smoky flavoring and food coloring to give the outside the appearance of having been smoked in the more traditional manner.
Common smoked cheeses
Some smoked cheeses commonly produced and sold include smoked
Gruyère, smoked
Gouda (rookkaas),
Provolone
Provolone (, ) is an Italian semi-hard cheese made from cow's milk. It is an aged ''pasta filata'' ('stretched-curd') cheese originating in the Campania region, near Vesuvius, where it is still produced in pear, sausage, or cone shapes long. P ...
,
Rauchkäse,
Scamorza
() is a Southern Italy, southern Italian Cattle, cow's milk cheese. It can also be made from other milk, but that is less common. It is a (‘stretched curd’) cheese, in which the fresh curd matures in its own whey for several hours to allo ...
,
Sulguni,
Oscypek, Fynsk rygeost, and smoked
Cheddar.
Gallery
Image:Smoked Austrian cheese.jpg, Smoked Austrian cheese
Image:Smoked Lincolnshire Poacher Cheese.jpg, Smoked Lincolnshire Poacher Cheese
Image:Smoked Gruyère cheese.jpg, Smoked Gruyère cheese
Gruyère (, , ; , ) is a hard Swiss cheeses and dairy products, Swiss cheese that originated in the cantons of Canton of Fribourg, Fribourg, Vaud, Canton of Neuchâtel, Neuchâtel, Canton of Jura, Jura, and Canton of Bern, Berne in Switzerland. ...
Image:Smoked cheese in the Netherlands.jpg, Smoked cheese in the Netherlands
Image:Oscypki.jpg, Smoked Polish oscypek
See also
*
List of smoked foods
This is a list of smoked foods. Smoking (cooking), Smoking is the process of seasoning, flavoring, cooking, or food preservation, preserving food by exposing it to smoke from burning or smoldering material, most often wood. Foods have been smoke ...
References
Further reading
*
Juliet Harbutt. ''World Cheese Book.'' Penguin, Oct 5, 2009 pg .23
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