Description of a rare variety of Vashren de Beauge cheese and the peculiarities of its preparation. Energy value, impact on the human body. Cooking uses and interesting things about this variety.
Vachrain de Beauges is a soft cheese with a washed crust made in the foothills of the Alps in both France and Switzerland. The starting material is raw cow's milk, production is seasonal, from 15 August to 31 March. Smell - pungent, piquant, yeast; taste - sweetish-creamy, with a resinous aftertaste; texture - silky, soft, creamy with long exposure; color - white, slightly yellowish to the edges; the crust is thin, pinkish-gray, covered with white mold fluff. Cylindrical heads with a diameter of 20-21 cm, a height of 4-5 cm and a weight of 1, 2-1, 4 kg are enclosed in a ring of spruce bark.
How is Vachrain de Beauge cheese made?
Cows are milked on pastures, manually, pouring milk into a common vat. In farms, the feedstock is first cooled to 6 ° C and then heated to 32 ° C. That is, they make Vashren de Boj, like other varieties from raw cow's milk, without heat treatment.
Maintaining a constant temperature, calcium chloride, mesophilic flora and fungal culture, white mold, more often Penicillium candidum are poured in. But sometimes Penicillium camemberti is used. Liquid rennet is used for coagulation.
After forming the kale and checking for a clean break, the curd layer is cut into cheese grains, measuring 1, 5x1, 5 cm. Maintaining a constant temperature, stir until the cubes turn into balls. No washing is carried out. After the curd flakes settle, 1/3 of the whey is poured to make it easier to proceed to pressing.
The cheese mass is laid out on a canvas, tied in a knot, suspended and left for 12 hours to separate the whey, gradually tightening the ovary.
Then the future cheese is exposed, changing the fabric, on spruce strips, or transferred to perforated molds, lined with canvas of rare weaving. In this case, they are immediately inserted into rings of rolled fresh spruce bark. Pressing continues for 12 hours, every 2 hours the heads are turned over until the whey is drained and all the cheese mass is rammed into the wooden wheel.
Previously, oppression was used in this process, but when convenient molds appeared in which the necessary pressure can be created using the tightening lid, the cheese became denser, and the risk of rejection at this stage due to violation of sanitary and hygienic standards decreased. Salting is carried out during the day in 20% chilled brine.
The future heads are dried at room temperature for a day, and then placed in a chamber with a special microclimate: a temperature of 8-10 ° C and a humidity of 85-90%. Pre-punctures are made in the surface to activate the fungal culture.
How Vashren de Beauges cheese is prepared and why it turns out sweet and tender can be explained as follows: the surface is washed not with brine with dissolved fungal culture, but with fat milk or cream diluted in water. Aging lasts from 2 weeks to 2 months. Fresh cheese pulp is pasty, and ripe is so fluid, creamy that it can be eaten with a spoon.
Composition and calorie content of Vashren de Beauge cheese
The fat content of this grade relative to dry matter does not exceed 41-43%. Minor changes appear during maturation. During this time, the cheese mass acquires a creamy consistency due to prolonged fermentation, and carbohydrates, which were already scarce, completely disintegrate.
The calorie content of Vashren de Beauge cheese is 282-303 kcal per 100 g, of which:
- Proteins - 19-21 g;
- Fats - 23-26 g.
From the components of the vitamin and mineral composition, one can single out: retinol, choline and pantothenic acid, sodium, calcium, potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, iron and zinc. Among the essential acids, lysine, valine, phenylalanine predominate, and of the nonessential ones, aspartic and glutamic acid, proline, serine and tyrosine.
The peculiarities of the composition of the Vashren de Beauges cheese are explained by the aging technology. The cheese mass is filled into a circle of fresh spruce bark, and then set to ripen on spruce strips. The pulp absorbs resinous substances and essential oils, phytoncides with antibacterial properties.
Due to the rarity of the variety, no official research was carried out, but when checking the samples, even a small amount of ascorbic acid and carotene were isolated - uncharacteristic components for fermented milk products of this type.
Benefits of Vashren de Beauge cheese
The pungent odor and pungent taste of the product enhance the secretion of nasopharyngeal mucus. The macrophages contained in it suppress the activity of pathogenic fungi, viruses and bacteria that invade the oral cavity. The likelihood of caries and stomatitis is reduced, recovery is accelerated in inflammatory processes of the larynx.
Benefits of Vachren de Beauge cheese:
- Prevents the development of osteoporosis, strengthens bone tissue and improves the production of synovial fluid.
- Creates favorable conditions for beneficial microbiological cultures that are found in the small intestine. They are responsible for organic immunity.
- Normalizes blood pressure.
- Improves the digestion of food, accelerates its movement through the intestines. It is enough to eat a piece of 30-50 g daily to get rid of bad breath, restore appetite, and get rid of constipation.
- Helps cleanse the intestines from the accumulation of toxins and toxins.
- When consumed at 80 g per day, it provides 28% of the energy requirement.
- Stimulates the production of serotonin and helps to overcome stress factors, has a calming effect.
- Normalizes metabolic processes and accelerates the movement of bile through the ducts, which prevents the formation of calculi.
- Thins blood and increases vascular tone.
The salinity of Vachren de Beauges cheese is moderate, so in case of kidney disease, the portion should be limited, but you do not need to completely abandon your favorite product.
Ascorbic acid and essential oils enhance the antiseptic and antibacterial properties of the fermented milk product. It is useful to introduce it into the diet when recovering from colds or operations on the abdominal organs.
The variety is especially useful for women. Fungal cultures help to slow down age-related changes, improve the quality of the skin, and suppress the work of the sebaceous glands.
Contraindications and harm of Vashren de Beauge cheese
With daily introduction into the daily menu, you should limit yourself to a portion of 30-40 g. If you exceed the recommended dose, you can provoke the development of dysbiosis and change the acid-base balance in the digestive waste. The most vulnerable are people with a history of chronic stomach diseases, colitis and gastroenterocolitis.
Eating Vachren de Beauges cheese is harmful to young children: since the raw materials are not pasteurized, the final product may contain bacteria that cause salmonellosis or listeriosis. In babies, the composition of the intestinal flora is unstable, and it will not be able to suppress pathogens if they are activated.
For the same reason, cheese should not be included in the diet of pregnant women. With hormonal changes, the ratio of beneficial and harmful bacteria is disturbed, and if intestinal disorders appear, pregnancy may be terminated.
Varieties with white mold have an increased risk of allergic reactions. Therefore, acquaintance with a new taste should start with very small pieces. If irritation of the oral mucosa appears, there is a swelling of the larynx and heart rate increases, it is better to refuse further tasting.
Overeating with dysfunction of the endocrine system, liver and pancreas, obesity and the need to control your own weight should be avoided. The product is high in calories and contains easily digestible substances, including milk protein, which contributes to rapid weight gain. For fans of this variety, it is advisable to think about increasing physical activity, otherwise it will not work to prevent the formation of a fat layer.
Recipes with Vashren de Beauges cheese
Parts of aged cheese "wheels" in spruce bark are served warmed to room temperature to Savoyard wines - white grape and red fruit. Slicing is not carried out - it is customary to scoop the circular pulp with a dessert spoon and savor it for a long time, dissolving in the mouth.
But the heads with an exposure of 2 weeks are used to prepare potato casseroles and escalopes, they are melted and used as a hot sauce, to meat delicacies and pasta. Cut off the mold from the crust.
Recipes with Vashren de Beauge cheese:
- Pork escalope (veal can be used) … Meat, 0.5 kg, washed and dried with a paper towel, cut into portions, 0.5 cm thick. Beat off from 2 sides, placing cling film, then salt and pepper. Preheat the oven to 170-180 ° C, first spread the rings of 2 onions on a baking sheet, then the meat. For each piece, 0.5 tsp. sour cream or mayonnaise and tomato slices. To make it tastier, it is better to remove the skin by lowering the fruits for 1-1, 5 minutes in boiling water. Further greens - to taste, crushed garlic. Put the leaf in the oven and bake for 30 minutes. Then, on each piece, lay out a young Vashren de Beauges, cut first into thin slices and then into squares. Remove the bake again. As soon as a golden brown crust forms, you can taste it.
- Fondue … If you have a fondue pot, it is more convenient to cook, but you can make the dish in a regular thick-walled saucepan. It is smeared with garlic from the inside. Pour in 1 tbsp. l. cherry liqueur, 2/3 glass of white wine or champagne, 1 tsp. lemon juice and add a little starch, which was previously diluted in white wine. Stir until the mixture heats up, and then pour in chopped cheese - 400-450 g (if the head is matured, then spread the pasty pulp), mix with a movement resembling an eight. The Swiss believe that you cannot cook fondue in a circular motion. When the cheese is completely melted, you can add grated nutmeg, cloves and pepper. Fondue is served hot, with bread, flat cakes or sliced meat delicacies.
- Pasta with soft cheese … The paste is boiled separately and thrown back on a sieve to remove the liquid. Fry onions in a pan until soft, pour in white wine, wait for it to evaporate by half, add mushrooms and fry them until tender, until brown crust. Spread out the pasta, add the crushed cheese and stir until it melts. Lemon juice and pepper are used to improve the taste. Salt is not needed - there is enough of it in the cheese.
If you managed to get a head of a delicacy, it should be stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks, avoiding freezing. If the condition is violated, the pulp will become bitter.
Interesting facts about Vashren de Beauge cheese
The earliest time for the appearance of the winter delicacy on the shelves of the store is September 15. The first mentions date back to 1307, and the heads in the wheel are depicted in a monastery fresco made at the end of the 14th century. The production of this variety is also mentioned in the handwritten archival documents of the city of Evian-les-Bains, dating back to 1314. Even then, a method of production according to the canons of Prior Maileri was described.
For its production, only winter milk is used, obtained from cows fed with alpine hay. But it is allowed to use mixed fodder: part - the last grasses of high-mountain pastures, part - hay. If flour of animal origin or branch feed is introduced as complementary food, it will not work to achieve the desired taste of the final product.
The appearance of the variety can be explained by the living conditions of the Alpine shepherds. Due to frequent changes in the weather in the mountains during the transitional seasons, it was not always possible to deliver milk to the cheese dairy, for the production of Conte cheeses or the like, and so that milk did not go to waste, other technologies had to be developed. Until the XX-XXI centuries. this product was made only by small farms and often used the leftover milk from Gruyère and Conte as a raw material. However, even now the seasonality of production has been preserved.
In the Middle Ages, Vashren de Beauges could be tasted during the feast of the Doges of Venice or Louis XIV, at a dinner with the noble townspeople of Milan and the popes of Avignon. The cheese was prepared for export until the middle of the 20th century. However, now production is gradually decreasing, and it is produced in only 2 farms. It is quite possible that soon it will be possible to learn about this variety only from historical documents.
