Washed-rind or smear-ripened cheeses are
cheeses which are periodically treated with
brine or mold-bearing agents. This encourages the growth of certain bacteria on their surface which give them distinctive flavors. There are
hard
Hard may refer to:
* Hardness, resistance of physical materials to deformation or fracture
* Hard water, water with high mineral content
Arts and entertainment
* ''Hard'' (TV series), a French TV series
* Hard (band), a Hungarian hard rock supe ...
and
soft washed-rind cheeses. The softer ones are sometimes distinguished as "smear-ripened". Conversely, the term "washed rind" is sometimes reserved only for the hard ones.
Production
Washed-rind cheeses are periodically cured in a solution of saltwater
brine or mold-bearing agents that may include beer, wine, brandy and spices, making their surfaces amenable to a class of bacteria (''
Brevibacterium linens
''Brevibacterium linens'' is a gram-positive, rod-shaped bacterium. It is the type species of the family '' Brevibacteriaceae''.
''Brevibacterium linens'' is ubiquitously present on the human skin, where it causes foot odor. The familiar odor ...
'', the reddish-orange smear bacteria) that impart pungent odors and distinctive flavors and produce a firm, flavorful rind around the cheese.
Washed Rind Cheese
at Practically Edible Food Encyclopedia Washed-rind cheeses can be soft (Limburger
Limburger (in southern Dutch contexts Rommedoe, and in Belgium Herve cheese) is a cheese that originated in the Herve area of the historical Duchy of Limburg, which had its capital in Limbourg-sur-Vesdre, now in the French-speaking Belgian pr ...
), semi-hard, or hard ( Appenzeller). The same bacteria can also have some effect on cheeses that are simply ripened in humid conditions, like Camembert. The process requires regular washings, particularly in the early stages of production, making it quite labor-intensive compared to other methods of cheese production.
Examples
Soft (smear-ripened)
* Brick cheese
Brick cheese is a cheese from Wisconsin, U.S., made in brick-shaped form. The color ranges from pale yellow to white, and the cheese has a sweet and mild flavor when young, and matures into a strong, ripe cheese with age. It is a medium-soft che ...
* Limburger
Limburger (in southern Dutch contexts Rommedoe, and in Belgium Herve cheese) is a cheese that originated in the Herve area of the historical Duchy of Limburg, which had its capital in Limbourg-sur-Vesdre, now in the French-speaking Belgian pr ...
* Mondseer
* Munster
* Maroilles
* Fontina
* Ardrahan
Ardrahan () is a village in County Galway, Ireland.
History
Richard de Burgo conquered Galway in 1236, and granted the land to Maurice Fitzgerald who built the castle whose ruins still stand today. The churchyard wall contains the remains ...
* Époisses
* Langres
Langres () is a commune in northeastern France. It is a subprefecture of the department of Haute-Marne, in the region of Grand Est.
History
As the capital of the Romanized Gallic tribe known as the Lingones, it was called Andematunnum, then ...
* Herve
Herve (; li, Herf; wa, Heve) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Liège, Belgium. On January 1, 2018 Herve had a total population of 17,598. The total area is which gives a population density of .
It is fame ...
* Tilsit
Sovetsk (russian: Сове́тск; german: Tilsit; Old Prussian: ''Tilzi''; lt, Tilžė; pl, Tylża) is a town in Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, located on the south bank of the Neman River which forms the border with Lithuania.
Geography
So ...
* Pont-l'Évêque
Hard (washed-rind)
* Gruyère
* Beaufort
* Appenzeller
* Oka cheese
See also
* Types of cheese
There are many different types of cheese. Cheeses can be grouped or classified according to criteria such as length of fermentation, texture, methods of production, fat content, animal milk, and country or region of origin. The method most comm ...
Bibliography
*{{cite encyclopedia, last=Gremmels , first=David, title=washed-rind cheeses, encyclopedia=The Oxford Companion to Cheese, publisher=Oxford University Press, url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780199330881.001.0001/acref-9780199330881-e-943, isbn=9780199330911, date=2017
Notes
*