Description of Cabrales cheese, production and aging features. Energy value and composition, impact on the human body. The use of the variety and its history.
Cabrales is a semi-hard cheese with a noble mold, made in one of the Spanish regions of Peñamellera Alta from raw cow's milk. The smell is pronounced, rather unpleasant - of sour milk and a cowshed, damp goat or sheep wool, fermented fruits and yeast; the taste is spicy, sour and unexpectedly delicate; texture - dense, creamy; the color in the section is yellowish or ivory, with random blotches of mold - blue and emerald. Once it was customary to wrap cylindrical heads (with a diameter of 18-32 cm, a height of 16-22 cm and a weight of 1-4.2 kg) in chestnut or fig tree (fig) leaves, but now they are packed in foil.
How is Cabrales cheese made?
As already mentioned, the main raw material is cow's milk, but sheep and goat's milk is added to it in small quantities. It is customary to collect morning and evening milk yield.
How Cabrales cheese is made by modern farmers:
- All milk is poured into a vat and heated to a temperature of 30-31 ° C. Lactic acid bacteria and curdling enzyme are rarely purchased at the pharmacy. In most cases, curd mass with unstrained whey is used. Therefore, the coagulation process takes 10-12 hours. It is customary to start the production process in the evening so that the kale is formed by the morning.
- The curd layer is cut into small grains and left to rest for 5-6 hours. Some cheesemakers, instead of chopping, simply break it with a ladle or slotted spoon, which at the next stage will scoop out the cheese mass.
- The molds are lined with gauze and filled with cottage cheese, which has sunk to the bottom. Cabrales cheese is not prepared, like others, by stirring the cheese grains, washing them or heating them. Spain is a country with a rather warm climate, so you don't need a water bath. The sun is enough. But if it is cool, then hot stones are placed near the boiler with the raw materials.
- The intermediate product is in the forms for several days. They are turned over every 2-3 hours. No pressing required. Natural voids are formed, in which fungal cultures will develop in the future.
- The surface of the dried formed heads is rubbed with salt, injections are made with mold.
- Now farmers place the heads for 20 days in special chambers with a temperature of 10-12 ° C and a humidity of 85-90%. All this time, they are regularly turned over - every 4 hours. This is necessary to control mold activity.
- Then the cheese is transported to caves with a natural microclimate and high humidity. Here they are installed on racks and "visit" less often, no more than 2-3 times a day. It is possible to create grotto conditions in the chambers by changing the temperature regime.
No crust is formed. The surface becomes spongy, uneven, covered with a blue-green uneven fluff. Cabrales cheese ripens for 2-4 months, but sometimes it is left for a year. The smell intensifies with each month of fermentation. In a well-aged product, it is so intense that it causes watery eyes in many. In this case, pre-sale preparation is a layer of foil and vacuum packaging.
Composition and calorie content of Cabrales cheese
The dry matter fat content of a fermented milk product can be estimated at 27%, 33% and 41%. This parameter largely depends on the amount of additional additives - sheep or goat milk.
Calorie content of Cabrales cheese -388-392 kcal per 100 g, of which:
- Proteins - 21, 50 g;
- Fat - 34 g;
- Carbohydrates - 2 g.
Vitamins per 100 g:
- Retinol - 300 mg;
- Thiamine - 0.03 mg;
- Riboflavin - 0.6 mg;
- Niacin - 6, 3 mg;
- Pyridoxine - 0.08 mg;
- Folic acid - 80 mcg;
- Cobalamin - 1.2 mg;
- Tocopherol - 0.8 mg;
- Vitamin D - 0.23 mg
Minerals per 100 g:
- Sodium - 1067 mg;
- Calcium - 700 mg;
- Phosphorus - 379 mg;
- Potassium - 95 mg;
- Magnesium - 20 mg;
- Zinc - 2.3 mg;
- Iron - 0.6 mg.
A negligible amount of vitamin K.
Fats per 100 g:
- Cholesterol - 93-98 mg;
- Monounsaturated fatty acids - 9.4 g;
- Polyunsaturated fatty acids - 0.92 g;
- Saturated fatty acids - 17.7 g.
When studying the composition of Cabrales cheese, lactose was isolated - 0.06 g per 100 g.
Among the nonessential and essential amino acids prevail: glutamic and aspartic, proline, serine, histidine, valine, tyrosine, phenylalanine, lysine, leucine, threonine and isoleucine.
Regular consumption of this fermented milk product will help athletes achieve the desired results. In order for creatine to be produced, which supports the energy reserve, it is enough to eat a piece weighing 70-80 g. This substance is stably synthesized when a complex of amino acids - arginine, methionine and glycine enters the body. They may be present in Cabrales in small numbers, but they are enough to maintain performance.
The high sodium content should be noted separately. This nutrient is added during salting and has a significant impact on health.
The health benefits of Cabrales cheese
The fermented milk product contains a large amount of substances necessary for the normal functioning of the human body. Fatty acids stop age-related changes, improve skin quality, and increase vascular tone. But these are not the only benefits of Cabrales cheese.
When using the product, bone and cartilage tissue is strengthened, the development of osteoporosis, degenerative-dystrophic changes in the musculoskeletal system stops. Farmers in the region, who regularly made and ate this variety, were less likely to complain of arthrosis and gout than residents of neighboring villages.
Cabrales cheese has a good effect on hair growth - they break less, and the nail plates become denser and do not delaminate.
If you follow the recommendations for use, dysbiosis will not occur. On the contrary, the production of pancreatic enzymes and bile acids will increase, and food digestion will improve. 30-40 g of cheese per day will help you forget about constipation, the intestines will work like a clock. In addition, the creamy oily pulp, when passing through the digestive tract, forms a film on the mucous membrane. This protects the organs from the aggressive effects of hydrochloric acid synthesized by the stomach.
Cheese improves memory function, prevents atherosclerosis. Maintains a stable heart rate and improves blood formation. Increases the production of red blood cells and prolongs the life cycle, increases blood clotting.
Like any delicious food, Cabrales stimulates the release of serotonin and improves mood, helps to cope with stress and restore emotional state.
Contraindications and harm of Cabrales cheese
If modern cheese manufacturers comply with sanitary and hygienic requirements, then even 50 years ago, tasting could end with digestive disorders. According to old recipes, at the first stage of ripening, the heads were hung on apple trees. The sparsely woven fabric in which they were wrapped was not a reliable protection from the larvae of flies, which could later get into the porous texture when the canvas was removed and the cheese cylinders were transferred to grottoes and caves.
In the manufacture of Cabrales cheese, worms are not used - their presence is unacceptable. Sellers, in order to interest the buyer, can tell a story about "cheese makers' helpers", but if the larva is in the head, you should not buy.
Farmers who adhere to tradition cover the surface of the heads with wet leaves so that flies do not land on them. However, this does not help to completely get rid of parasites, and it does not meet sanitary and hygienic requirements.
Fungal cultures were not injected. Mold infested the cheese naturally as it ripens. Despite the fact that the risk of the introduction of black pathogenic mold is now excluded, the risk of infection with listeriosis and salmonellosis remains.
For people with reduced immunity, diseases of the digestive organs and women during pregnancy and lactation, young children, tasting is dangerous. To reduce the harm of Cabrales cheese, it should not be purchased from farmers, but from private cheese dairies. In small dairy farms, all processes of product preparation are monitored, but the likelihood of contracting infectious diseases remains.
The use of this fermented milk product can cause negative reactions in the body. Persons with a history of allergy to milk protein, penicillin and milk sugar lactose will have to refuse to get acquainted with the new taste. A high amount of salt does not allow cheese to be added to the diet in case of kidney disease, a tendency to edema, hypertension and gout.
The recommended daily dosage of Cabrales cheese is no more than 80 g. If you eat more, the complex of fungal cultures will suppress the vital activity of beneficial bacteria in the small intestine, which has an adverse effect on general immunity.
Cabrales Cheese Recipes
The product is considered a delicacy. It is served with honey, marmalade - usually quince, sweet fruits. Its taste is combined with local dry white wines and cider. But even such a rare delicacy is used to make sauces, casseroles, desserts and hot dishes.
Cabrales Cheese Recipes:
- Sauce … Heat 200 ml of cream in a saucepan, spread 1 tbsp. l. butter and 50 g of cheese without removing the mold. Once a homogeneous texture is achieved, reduce the heat, evaporate the liquid until the sauce thickens, pepper and salt if necessary. You can season with rosemary.
- Croquettes … A sweet apple and a head of broccoli are peeled, cut into cubes, respectively, and disassembled into inflorescences, fried with 1 tbsp. l. sugar until golden brown, in butter. Take out and fry the onion in the same pan, chopping 1 onion. When it becomes transparent, add 80 g of flour and pour in 500 ml of raw, pre-warmed milk. Remove the pan from the heat, add the fry, 200 g of Cabrales, mix everything to get a dough. If it is very liquid, you can add flour. Beat 2 eggs, heat up deep fat - 200 ml of sunflower oil, pour bread crumbs on a plate. Scoop up the dough with a spoon, dipped in an egg, roll with breadcrumbs and dipped in deep fat. As soon as a golden brown crust appears, the dish is ready.
- Rice with shrimps … Fry 250 g of chopped onions and 2 garlic cloves in a pan. Rice is poured there, 500 g, fried and only then water is poured - 2 times more in volume than rice was put. Cook for 15 minutes, add 2 apples, cubed, 200 g Cabrales. Shrimps are grilled separately and spread on a cereal pillow. Season with white pepper and herbs to taste.
- Cheese sweets … 300 g of tender cheese mass is whipped with 75 g of butter and 1/3 cup of cream. Put away in the refrigerator. When it hardens to a plastic state, they form balls and roll them in crushed poppy seeds, chopped nuts, sesame seeds. The sprinkling is chosen to your taste. Put it back in the refrigerator until you get real caramel.
When heated, the smell of a gourmet product increases. Therefore, if it causes a gag reflex even without heat treatment, another type of cheese should be chosen as an ingredient.
Interesting facts about Cabrales cheese
There are several legends about the origin of the variety. One of them tells of a shepherd in love who was so carried away by a girl that he forgot about his duties. He threw the cattle, fresh milk, even a bundle of bread and went to his girlfriend. The herd was gathered by his comrades, but when he returned home a few months later, the family did not accept him. After all, because of him, the village could be left without food. The crying guy went to spend the night in the grotto and found that the thrown milk, in which a piece of bread had drowned, had solidified. This is how the first Cabrales head was born with a pungent odor and a pleasant taste. And the villagers forgave the shepherd for the original recipe.
The second legend is more believable. Poor peasants poured their milk into one vat and then made cheese. For 1-2 days, it was not possible to collect the raw materials, so the milk gradually turned sour, and there was no need to spend money on sourdough. Mold cultures were introduced naturally, during the "rest" of the intermediate product and maturation. They did not think about unsanitary conditions, and it is likely that at that time bread crumbs could fall into the vat. The pieces with mold were not removed also because this would reduce the weight of the curd mass, and there was not much of it anyway. Black mold, the harmfulness of which was already suspected in the Middle Ages, was destroyed with the help of salt.
Cabrales can be called a gastronomic symbol of the province in northern Spain, Asturias. To get acquainted with the exquisite taste, you will have to visit the village of the same name - only there they make an original fermented milk product. From the middle of the twentieth century, its quality was constantly monitored and by the end of the century, in 1981, it was awarded the D. O. (protection by origin). By the way, this variety is most often counterfeited.
The first acquaintance with a new taste can provoke a gag reflex. The smell is so unpleasant that the pieces are not recommended to be transported in the open form and are packaged in special vacuum packages. They say that once some neighbors bought Cabrales, and the second called the police because of the strange smell from the apartment.
Every year in Asturias, in the village of Cabrales, an exhibition and sale is held, at which it is determined which of the 60 farmers (this is the number allowed to produce this variety) made the "Best batch in the world". It is in the world, since nowhere, except for the 4 villages of the region, cheese is not produced.
On the shelves, they spread not only heads packed in aluminum emerald foil with a logo and a trademark, but also wrapped in fig, chestnut and even plantain leaves. There are a lot of people who want to try Cabrales made according to old recipes. Just do not forget that tasting can negatively affect your health.
Watch the video about Cabrales cheese:
