Thomas Hanson, age 12, of St. Paul, Minn., for his question:
HOW DOES CHEESE GET DIFFERENT FLAVORS?
Cheese was made for the first time about 4,000 years ago. It was a favorite food for the nomadic tribes in Asia. Through the years the art of cheese making spread to Europe and the rest of the word. The settlers in Jamestown, Virginia, started making cheese in 1611 from the milk of imported cows and the nation's first cheese factory was built near Rome, N.Y., in 1851.
More than 400 different kinds of cheese is made today and it is sold under more than 2,000 different names.
There are four different types of cheese: soft, semisoft, hard and very hard. The amount of moisture in the cheese determines whether it is hard or soft, with lots of moisture being found in the softer types.
Among the semisoft cheeses are blue, brick, Limburger, Monterey Jack, mozzarella, Munster, Roquefort and Stilton. The mold which is added to some of these cheeses during the cheese making process gives the cheeses their own special flavors.
The flavor of various types of cheese is determined by what is put into the mixture during cheese making time or, with some types, by the amount of time it ages.
Some cheese must be aged or cured before it reaches the proper texture and flavor. The process is also called ripening. Cheese is aged in storage rooms or warehouses that have a controlled temperature and humidity. Aging time will vary for different types of cheeses. Brick, for example, may need only two months to age while Parmesan will require about a year. The longer the curing time, the sharper the flavor of the cheese.
About 40 percent of the cheese eaten in North America is called process cheese. Process cheeses keep better than natural ones and also melt more evenly when used in cooking. It is made of a blend of natural cheeses with two or more often being combined.
Fruit, meat, spices or vegetables are often added to various types of process cheese to produce a variety of flavors.
Most cheese is made from the milk of cows but in various parts of the world cheese is made from the milk of buffaloes, camels, donkeys, horses, zebras, goats, and sheep. In Tibet yak milk is used and in Lapland reindeer milk is used to make cheese.
Wisconsin is North America's leading cheese producing area with Minnesota, New York, Iowa, Quebec and Missouri following in order.
The United States is the world's leading cheese producing country with India, Russia, France, West Germany and Italy following.