Cheesaholics Anonymous

Can vegetarians eat cheese?

Most cheeses contain a coagulant (technical term is rennet) that is added to the milk to separate the curds from the whey. Traditional rennet is made from an enzyme found in the stomach lining of suckling calves and lambs. This was likely discovered in the transport of milk in calf stomachs, or when the animals were slaughtered and curds were discovered in their stomachs. In early cheese making, the stomach linings were dried out, ground up, and added directly to the milk. These days animal rennet comes in powder or liquid form, and is highly controlled and sanitary. But the resulting cheese it is technically NOT a vegetarian food.

Thankfully vegetarians need not rule out all cheeses—vegetarian rennet does exist.

The ancient cheese makers of the Iberian Peninsula for example, discovered the coagulant properties of the Cardoon Thistle. And in the wake of mad cow disease, many English cheese makers switched to vegetable rennet, and have yet to switch back. Plant sources of vegetable rennet include Lady’s Bedstraw, Stinging Nettle and Safflower. Microbial (genetically engineered) rennet is also widely available, and is vegetarian-friendly.

Some examples of cheeses made from different rennet:

Animal Rennet: Parmigiano Reggiano, Montgomery’s Cheddar, Gruyère.

Vegetable/Microbial Rennet: Humboldt Fog, Spenwood, Torta del Casar.

No Rennet: Cottage cheese, Mozzarella (most), Queso Blanco.

The Ansteys of Worcester

Somewhere in the middle of England lies Worcester – home of the famous Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce, and a few terrific cheeses. Colin and Alyson Anstey don’t own their own herd but purchase top quality cow and goat’s milk from neighboring farms to make their array of curdled delights:

Old Worcester White – The Ansteys initially intended this to be a blue cheese, but when the blue mould didn’t take, it ended up “white”. A serendipitous discovery, and a profitable one, as this cheese is now in demand across the country.

Double Worcester – Double everything in the Old Worcester White recipe and you get Double Worcester. This cheese is similar to a Double Gloucester, with a bright golden paste and concentrated tang.

Worcestershire Sauce Cheese – You guessed it. The Lea & Perrins folks challenged the Ansteys to incorporate their sauce in a new cheese. The result is a deliciously meaty cheese that is a perfect candidate for grilled cheese sandwiches (with a smear of Branston pickle, please).

Snodsbury – I adore the name, and the cheese is scrumptious. A fairly new aged goat’s milk cheese, with odors reminiscent of the barn and wet wool. Crumbly, mild and quite unique for the region.

To see photos from the Anstey Dairy click here.

What are the most expensive cheeses?

Beluga caviar, foie gras and saffron are notoriously expensive foodstuffs guaranteed to burn a hole in your wallet. But can soured milk command the same lofty price tags? Here are a few of the priciest curds around:

1. Gorau Glas, an award-winning blue-veined cow’s milk cheese from Anglesey, Wales.  Priced up to $40 per pound. Claims to be the world’s (or at least the UK’s) most expensive cheese. Production is limited, but the farm is well known by traveling foodies who want to get a taste of the “first of its kind” Welsh cheese.
2. Bitto, a mixed cow and goat’s milk cheese from the Italian Alps (Valli del Bitto). Priced up to $55 per pound.  Strict production requirements (e.g., manual milking), and an extremely rare breed of goat are some of the reasons why this cheese is so expensive. It is also one of the only cheeses in the world that can be aged for ten years or more. And you can be sure that the more aged the cheese, the heftier the price tag.
3. Moose Cheese, made in northern Sweden from only three female moose (technically “cows”). Extremely rare, labor intensive and small production, allowing the cheese makers to command up to $500 per pound! The moose cheese is mainly sold to upscale Swedish hotels and restaurants. The farm is planning on exporting the cheese, though at that exorbitant price it might be one cheese I’ll just have to be content reading about.

Cholesterol and Cheese

In a single ounce of cheese you can expect to find approximately 25 mg of cholesterol. The more butterfat in the cheese the higher the cholesterol, so avoid double and triple-crèmes and very dense cheeses like Parmesan if you have cholesterol problems. The lowest cholesterol option is cottage cheese (only 10 mg cholesterol per cup).

But even if you have high cholesterol I would still advocate eating smaller amounts of real cheese than large amounts of imitation cheese. Imitation “health” cheeses contain substantial amounts of vegetable fats, which are famously low in cholesterol but are potentially harmful to your body (linked to hardening of the arteries and cancer). Without getting too controversial in an area where I am not an authority, I would like to share with you two brief extracts from a fiery and controversial book:

“Animal fat consumption has not increased in the past sixty years. The increase in heart attacks has paralleled the increased consumption of margarine, homogenized milk, and other processed foods.”

“How does one explain the Masai tribe of East Africa? The Masai are cattle herders. Their diet is nothing but meat, milk and blood. That’s as high a fat and cholesterol diet as you can get. Yet atherosclerosis (plaque build-up in arteries) is practically unknown among Masai tribesmen.”

- William Campbell Douglass II, MD, from The Milk Book. Dr. Douglass is also author of Eat Your Cholesterol! from Rhino Publishing.