Description of Ble de Coss cheese, preparation method. Calorie content and composition, effect on the body. How it is eaten, interesting facts about the variety.
Ble de Cossse is a French soft cheese made in dairies from raw cow's milk, and in private farms from a mixture of sheep and cow. It belongs to blue cheeses from the Roquefort group and is considered one of the most ancient varieties of France. It is produced in the form of cylinders with a diameter of 20-22 cm and a height of 8-10 cm. The weight of the heads is 2-3, 3 kg. The crust is dense, formed, brittle, greenish. The texture is pasty, streaked with blue and emerald mold; the taste is spicy, salty. The color of the product made in summer is yellowish, ivory, and in winter it is white-blue, but with a slight yellowness closer to the crust. The aroma is bright, a mixture of meadow fresh and rotted herbs with notes of rotten earth. The variety is called "Cow's Milk Roquefort".
How is Ble de Coss cheese made?
The original product owes its taste to ripening in natural conditions - the limestone caves of the French region of Gorge du Tarn, where it is kept from 3 months to six months. Ble de Cossse cheese is made as an analogue of the main variety - Roquefort, but all year round, since modern cheese makers use only cow's milk. Back in the early twentieth century, it was mixed with sheep.
Even before the milk is pasteurized, the noble mold Penicillium Roqueforti is activated. To do this, dry powder is diluted in 100 g of warm milk. Then, heating is carried out at 60 ° C for 40 minutes. Farms often use raw milk, but a product made from similar raw materials is not allowed to be sold in markets or in stores.
How to make Ble de Coss cheese:
- The feedstock is cooled to 30-32 ° C, mesophilic sourdough is added and half of the activated mold is poured in. When the starter is absorbed, mix with movements from top to bottom and after 40 minutes pour in liquid rennet.
- At this stage, a preservative is added that inhibits the growth of pathogenic microorganisms that can get into an intermediate product during manufacture - calcium chloride.
- When the kale has formed, it is cut into cubes with edges of 1, 5 cm. The contents of the boiler are stirred, slowly increasing the temperature - 1 ° С / 10 minutes - up to 40 ° С. When the grain becomes finer and settles, part of the whey is drained.
- The curd mass is laid out in forms, left for a day under the press, turning over every 3 hours. For another 1-2 days, the heads are dried at room temperature.
- The salting is dry, the salt is rubbed into the surface, from all sides. Then a syringe with a long needle is loaded with mold, diluted in milk, and the surface of the future head is pierced, injecting "medicine".
- They are lowered into caves, turned over for 2 weeks every 4 hours, and then - 2 times a day. It is impossible to make a variety in an artificial environment. Aging takes place with intensive ventilation. The caves are winding, and, despite the constant air flow, the microclimate in them is constant - it is impossible to create such conditions in the chamber.
After 14 days, it becomes clear whether they have coped with the observance of the technology. During this time, a thin crust forms, and an emerald fluff appears on it. At the slightest blotch of black dots, the head is lowered for 1-2 hours in 20% brine. Self-respecting cheesemakers send such cheese for processing. With the secondary formation of dark mold, the products are disposed of. The maximum aging period is 8 months. If left for a longer time, the properties of the variety change. From 8 liters of milk receive 1-1, 5 kg of the final product.
