How is Sel-sur-Cher cheese eaten, what are the recipes for using it? A detailed review of the product: composition, manufacturing features, useful properties and possible harm to humans.
Sel-sur-Cher is a blue cheese native to France that is made from goat's milk in strict accordance with established quality standards. Refers to soft and semi-matured cheeses. It has a flowering crust and a medium fat content. It combines tastes incompatible at first glance: sweetish, salty and nutty. The aroma of the cheese is moldy and yeasty.
Peculiarities of making Cel-sur-Cher cheese
The French learned how to make Sel-sur-Cher cheese in the 19th century. Currently, the product is produced mainly by small farms, therefore it is called a farm.
The cheese is made all year round, but Sel-sur-Cher is considered the most valuable product, prepared from spring to autumn. This is due to the characteristics of the milk that goats give at different times of the year. When animals graze in green meadows, their milk is enriched with the most protein and other beneficial nutrients. At industrial enterprises, goats are fed with artificially fortified feed, so the milk has the same quality throughout all seasons.
The main steps for making Sel-sur-Cher cheese on cheese farms:
- Harvesting unpasteurized goat milk (to prepare 150 g of cheese, you will need about 1, 3 liters).
- The addition of rennet to the milk mass for rapid protein coagulation (this usually occurs within 24 hours).
- Formation of cheese into compact heads, the diameter of which does not exceed 9.5 cm, and the total weight will be equal to 150 g.
- Placement of cheese in special molds to quickly separate excess whey from protein.
- Salting the product and enveloping it in the finest charcoal.
- Placement of cheese in special ripening boxes. The room must be stable at a certain level of humidity and temperature.
- Maturation of cheese 10-30 days.
It is quite difficult to buy a cheese delicacy in Russia, you need to go to specialized stores and pay a high price for the product. If you have enough free time, you can prepare the treat yourself.
Homemade Sel-sur-Cher cheese recipe:
- The first step in cooking is to sterilize the dishes. This is necessary so that spores of any non-noble mold do not get into the product.
- Buy 8 liters of whole goat milk and bring it to 22 ° C.
- Remove milk from heat and add mesophilic starter culture (1/2 teaspoon) to it, as well as a small pinch of mold from the genus Geotrichum and Penicillium Candidum.
- Leave the milk for 5 minutes. Mix it with all the added ingredients a little later (it is more convenient to do this with a slotted spoon).
- In a separate bowl, dissolve calcium chloride (1/4 tsp) in a minimum volume of water. Add this mixture to milk. Do the described steps with the same amount of rennet.
- Stir the milk and additives thoroughly.
- Wrap a container of milk with a warm blanket and keep in a room with an average temperature of 18 hours. During this time, the protein in the milk should curdle and thicken.
- Prepare a special container with mats for drying Sel-sur-Cher. It is important that the container is colorless and has a tight-fitting lid. You can purchase equipment for making cheese in any specialized online store at an affordable cost. However, you can build such a container yourself, taking as a basis a regular container for food products.
- Collect the cheese from the whey pan and transfer it to special containers to form cheese heads.
- Place the molds in a container to dry the product (molds must be upright).
- Leave the cottage cheese for a day. Remember to periodically look into the container and remove excess moisture with a paper towel.
- After the specified time, turn the molds over and leave them alone for another day.
- Remove the cheese from the molds and sprinkle a little salt on each head.
- Place the cheese heads on a paper towel in a container, sprinkle with ash and press it into the cheese with your fingers.
- Leave the product on the mat for 14 days. It is important that in the box where the cheese ripens, the air temperature is maintained at 10 ° C, and the humidity is equal to 85%.
- The Sel-sur-Cher container must be opened periodically during maturation to control the humidity in the air. Otherwise, the cheese may become covered with too much blue mold, or, conversely, dry out.
- Store the finished delicacy in a closed container or in foil.
On a note! Cel-sur-Cher cheese cannot be stored for more than 1 month. To keep the product fresh during this period and not lose its taste, place it in the refrigerator on the shelf that is located closest to the freezer, i.e. in the coldest part of your refrigerator.
Interesting facts about Sel-sur-Cher cheese
Sel-sur-Cher was named after a small French village in which it was supposedly first made. Historians find it difficult to tell the details of the invention of his recipe. However, they focus on its great popularity in the modern world.
Sel-sur-Cher is valued in its state, as evidenced by the AOC and PDO certificates, which the product received from the French Ministry of Agriculture. The aforementioned documents establish strict standards for the production of the product and limit the areas in which Cel-sur-Cher cheese farms can be opened.
Watch a video about Sel-sur-Cher cheese:
Cel-sur-Cher cheese is a healthy product that must be eaten in limited quantities. Excessive consumption of a moldy product can provoke an upset stomach. The cheese is ideal for preparing gourmet French cuisine.
