What is included in Livaro cheese, how is it eaten? Features of preparation, useful properties and contraindications to the use of cheese. Recipes using Livaro.
Livaro cheese is a French delicacy with red mold, which is made from quality milk from selected cows. It has a brown crust and a special pungent taste. Served as an appetizer for high quality French wines or desserts. The product has a healing effect on the human body, but there are cases when you should abandon Livaro or reduce the amount of its use.
Features of cooking Livaro cheese
Currently, the bulk of Livaro, which is sold in supermarkets, is an industrial product. This cheese has a slightly different taste and composition, in comparison with Livaro, made in private farms. Therefore, if you want to find an original product, buy cheese from small specialized sellers for whom the volume of sales is not important.
Cheese farms produce Livaro using a special technology. High quality milk obtained from a special type of dairy cows is used as raw material. The animals are fed with fortified food and grazed in ecologically clean areas. Such conditions for keeping livestock directly affect the quality of milk (the product contains a lot of protein) and the final result of production.
Cheese preparation is subject to seasonality: it is believed that Livaro is best cooked in all seasons except winter. This may be due to the peculiarities of milk, which slightly changes its composition in winter.
When making cheese, milk does not undergo heat treatment, and special ferments are not used to ferment it.
It is also a feature of Livaro's farm production - the use of an ingredient that is exotic for cheese, sea cane. Farmers do not buy this plant from random sellers, they grow it on their own. Cheese heads are tied with cane at a certain stage in the production of Livaro - during the ripening of the product. Thanks to this, the cheese is not pressed into a thin layer, but retains its lush structure.
The cheese is left to ripen in special chambers for 2-3 months, in which a certain temperature regime is maintained. At certain stages of production, the product is rubbed with a special natural dye so that it acquires a characteristic brown crust.
In modern times, each manufacturer independently decides how to prepare Livaro cheese. Many people send milk for heat treatment, use special starter cultures and molds. Also, industrial companies have abandoned the use of cane, replacing it with paper strips.
If you like experimenting with making cheeses, you can make Livaro yourself in your home kitchen. To do this, you will need to purchase special equipment, namely:
- a large pan, at least 12 liters;
- container for aging cheese (plastic can be used);
- drainage container - indispensable for separating whey from formed cheese.
Step-by-step recipe for Livaro cheese for cooking at home:
- Heat homemade cow's milk to 75 ° C.
- Try to cool the product to 30 ° C immediately after pasteurization.
- Add mesophilic starter culture (1/4 teaspoon) to milk to obtain Livaro cheese.
- Dissolve 1/4 tsp in 50 ml of heated water. calcium chloride solution. Do the same with rennet.
- Pour the resulting mixtures into milk and mix.
- Cover the container with the cheese blank and wait 60 minutes. During this time, a piece of cheese should form.
- Cut the resulting thick mass into small cubes (1 cm each side). Put the cheese in a saucepan, put it on low heat - you need to constantly stir the cheese and gradually increase its temperature to 30 ° C. This process should take you about half an hour.
- When this procedure is complete, leave the milk alone for a few minutes. This time is necessary for the cheese to settle at the bottom of the container.
- Drain the whey from the saucepan so that it only slightly covers the curd that has formed.
- Place the cheese in a drainage container. Perhaps the volume of the forms will not be enough for you, and it will remain in the pan. There is nothing wrong with that: over time, whey will stand out from the cheese and drain into a special compartment of the container, at which time you can replenish the amount of cheese in the mold.
- Leave the cheese in the molds overnight.
- Apply a liquid called Brevibacterium to it. This can be done with a simple brush or a mechanical spray gun. If you can't find a solution in the store, you can do without it. However, in this case, your cheese will not have the brown crust for which it is famous throughout the world.
- Wait 10-15 minutes for the cheese to dry and rub the head with salt. It is important to correctly calculate the amount of this seasoning - 1 g of salt per 100 g of cheese.
- Put the cheese back in the pan with a drainage compartment and send it to the aging chamber for 4 days. If there is no camera, use any room where the air temperature is at a stable level and does not exceed 18 ° C.
- Turn food upside down daily.
- Now you need to prepare a special brine, with which you will moisten the cheese during the first 2 weeks of its ripening (every two days). To prepare the brine, boil 125 ml of water and pour 1 tsp into it. salt and 2 ml annatto.
- After 2 weeks of ripening and washing with brine, the cheese should be placed in another container and left for 2-3 months at a temperature of 13 ° C. Wipe the container and cheese daily for the rest of the ripening period, remembering to turn the Livaro upside down. Make sure that no blue mold appears on the surface of the product.
Memo to the novice cheese maker! Remember, the longer the Livaro is aged, the stronger its flavor becomes and the higher the cost per 100 g.
Composition and calorie content of Livaro cheese
The standard composition of Livaro cheese contains only salt, rennet extract, cow's milk and a natural brown dye derived from a plant called annatto. However, over time, variations appeared with goat and sheep milk.
The calorie content of Livaro cheese per 100 g is 340 kcal, of which:
- Protein - 20 g;
- Fat - 29 g;
- Carbohydrates - 0 g;
- Dietary fiber - 0 g;
- Water - 0 g.
The ratio of proteins, fats and carbohydrates is 1: 1, 5: 0, respectively.
Cheese is rich in nutrients. There are more useful elements in it than in other types of cheeses: calcium (Ca), potassium (K), retinol (vitamin A), calciferol (vitamin D), B vitamins.
Useful properties of Livaro cheese
The benefits of Livaro cheese for the human body are undeniable, because it contains useful and even medicinal mold. It is she who has a beneficial effect on the condition of the arteries and heart, which is a powerful prevention of the occurrence of heart attack and arthritis.
The beneficial effects of Livaro cheese on humans:
- It kills harmful microflora in the gastrointestinal tract due to the presence of mold, destroys pathogenic microorganisms in the intestines and prevents the development of a wide range of human diseases.
- Prevents premature aging of the body - mold inhibits oxidation processes, therefore it has an antioxidant effect on a person.
- It has a beneficial effect on the condition of human skin and hair - the cheese contains a lot of vitamins and minerals, which make the skin silky and moisturized, and the hair stronger.
- It quickly saturates the body with strength - the product is high in calories and quickly satisfies hunger.
- Strengthens the human skeleton - cheese contains a lot of calcium, which is necessary for strengthening bone tissue.
Read also about the health benefits of Asiago cheese.
Contraindications and harm of Livaro cheese
We must not forget about the harm of Livaro cheese for the human figure and its individual internal organs. Besides its high fat content, it is known for its increased salinity. Experts note that almost any hard cheese contains a lot of sodium chloride, because it is necessary to prevent the development of pathogenic microorganisms during the ripening of the product. In addition, a well-salted delicacy is considered more delicious than its unleavened counterpart. What is the harm of sodium chloride to human health?
Not every consumer knows this, but salty foods are addictive. In addition, they negatively affect the cardiovascular system of the body and can provoke the occurrence of edema … Note that for 100 g of cheese there is 1, 7 g of salt, while the daily norm of sodium chloride for an adult is no more than 2.3 mg.
Another danger of hard cheese - antibiotics and hormones … When performing chemical analyzes, a purulent substance is often found in cheeses, which enters the milk from the cow's bladder. This pus contains substances harmful to humans, hormones and antibiotics, with which cows are pricked to increase milk yield. An excess of these substances in the human body leads to hormonal imbalance, the development of joint problems and many other diseases.
People with acute gastrointestinal diseases and women who are preparing to become mothers should give up cheese with mold. The bacteria found in Livaro can cause miscarriage or other problems with the fetus.
Livaro cheese recipes
Livaro has a distinct taste and aroma. Therefore, it is practically not used as a constituent ingredient for the preparation of complex culinary dishes. Cheese is most often an independent product. Therefore, we present two options for its presentation:
- Classic cheese platter … In accordance with the culinary traditions of cheese connoisseurs, 6 flavors must be present on one plate at the same time so that the dish can be attributed to haute cuisine. So, next to Livaro should be placed a soft type of cheese, for example, Shaurs. You can't do without an Italian delicacy called Gorgonzola. Place a few slices of a noble product with concave edges - Beaufort next to an exquisite blue cheese. Each plate of cheese must contain a product made from sheep's milk. Therefore, you can cut several slices of Bren d'amura. This delicacy will fill the plate with a light aroma of rosemary and juniper. The sixth taste should be spicy. These cheeses include, for example, Stilton.
- Cheese and Fruit Dessert … Wash a few apples, pears, and grapes thoroughly. Slice the fruit and Livaro. Arrange all ingredients on a large platter and pair with French wine. It is these fruits that are most compatible with blue cheese.
See also recipes with Graviera cheese.
Interesting facts about Livaro cheese
The birthplace of Livaro cheese is considered to be France, or rather Normandy. It is here that the world-famous Camembert cheese is made. The first Livaro recipe was compiled around the 13th century.
For several centuries, the product was known and in demand only in a few provinces of France. It was nicknamed "the meat of the poor", and only over time, the original taste was appreciated. Cheese was called food for poor people most likely because of its high nutritional value and affordable cost. Currently, not all citizens with an average income can afford such a delicacy.
Another informal name for cheese is "colonel". The product received such a title thanks to 5 girths of cane, which are wrapped around its heads during ripening (it is easy to guess that exactly this number of strips corresponds to the rank of colonel in the homeland of a huge number of cheese delicacies, in France).
Watch the video about Livaro cheese:
Livaro cheese is a product with an interesting history, an expensive and incredibly tasty delicacy. You can make it at home or buy it at the grocery store. However, if you want to try the original Livaro, look for it from specialized sellers. Blue cheese is good for your health when consumed in small amounts.
