Each year, cheese seems to become more and more popular. Just head to almost any market and you're sure to find an extremely wide and varied selection of cheeses, if not a specific cheese section with standard to gourmet choices. Even liquor stores are putting cheese shops in their stores. The Midwest has chalets devoted explicitly to the product. With so many varieties out there, it can be hard to choose. And with the so many varieties within a variety, it can make it even harder. One such variety that seems to really be taking hold of the cheese market is that of the smoked cheese. So what's all the hubbub about?
Features
Basically, a smoked cheese can be any cheese that is a smoking method. Typically, you'll find that the cheese has been cured through mostly cold-smoking, but may well encounter some the have went through a hot-smoking, with both processes adding that more natural smoked taste. For cold-smoking, the cheese is smoked at somewhere around 70 to 90 degrees. Of course, this process takes a bit longer than the hot-smoking, and depends on the type of cheese that is being smoked. For hot-smoking, the temperature is set a little to a great deal higher than 100 to 190 degrees. There are also those smoked cheeses that are smoked in name only, where a smoky flavor is added to the product. Not the most natural way to "smoke" anything.
Identification
You can usually tell just by looking at a block of cheese whether it has been smoked or not. Most, if not all, smoked cheeses will have a skin, for lack of a better word, of a brownish hue encrusting the cheese itself. This is a natural occurrence that will happen during the smoking process. But, be warned, there are some smoked cheeses that have added the artificial smoky flavor and then died the outside to appear like a naturally smoked cheese. When in doubt, you can always ask someone at the deli counter for a sample. You can easily taste the difference between natural and artificial smoking.
Types
If you're looking for a smoked cheese to purchase, many times they'll have your favorites in a smoked variation. You can often find a smoked Cheddar, Gruyere, Gouda, Havarti and Swiss. The list really goes on and on up to some of the lesser known like Applewood, Rauchkase and Scamorza.
Considerations
With the popularity of smoked cheese still on the rise, people have even started smoking their own with products such as the SmokePistol or GrillKicker which emits a natural, sort of hickory smoke when lit. The brick of cheese is placed in a smoker (or some kind of makeshift enclosed container) and left to smoke for a couple of hours.
Expert Insight
Cheese isn't just classified by its flavor, such as smoked. It also finds classification in age, texture, fat content, milk type, origin and even method of making. The next time you hit a specialty cheese counter take a look at all the different cheeses. You'll be surprised at what you'll find.
Tags: smoked cheese, smoked cheeses, cheese that, , cured through