Cooking is one of the best passions you can have in today’s world. It offers an avenue for channeling your culinary creativity and preparing something your loved ones can sink their teeth into. Anyone with a passion for cooking and aiming for exceptional dishes cannot miss cheese on their ingredient list. There are nonetheless hundreds of cheese varieties worldwide, and choosing one might be overwhelming.
Some of the varieties available at cheese stores in Wisconsin are quite versatile and can be used in several recipes. With some tidbits to go on, you will know the type that you should pick from the shop and how to include it in your dishes. The following are some guidelines to help you do this.
Mozzarella Cheese
This marks one of the most popular cheese varieties worldwide. Its country of origin is Italy. It has a mild strength and a soft and chewy texture. Traditionally, mozzarella cheese was made from buffalo’s milk though nowadays it is also made from sheep’s, cow’s and goat’s milk. Mozzarella cheese is generally white, is often rolled into balls of varying sizes and has 318 kcal. You can enjoy it fresh with an olive oil drizzle, pepper or coarse salt since it has a lactic or slightly acidic taste. It can also be used in pizza, in a Caprese salad or a sandwich.
Parmesan Cheese
This is an Italian cheese considered among the top ones by connoisseurs. It is a hard and granular cheese with a bitter, strong, and nutty taste. As such, it is added in small quantities on your dishes. Parmesan has 431 kcal and is generally grated over pasta, risottos, and soups. Alternatively, it can be eaten as it is in a snack or sauces. Parmesan cheese also makes an excellent crust with eggs and panko that can be used for coating your chicken before frying it.
Cheddar Cheese
This comes from Cheddar village in Somerset, England. There are several cheddar cheese varieties based on their strengths and length of aging. Mild cheese is aged for three months while the medium is aged for 5-6 months and mature cheese for nine months. Cheddar cheese has a pale white to orange appearance and a soft and smooth or crumbly texture. It has 403kcal and can be used to top burgers, sandwiches or casseroles. You can alternatively grate it over your mac and cheese, quiches or veggie pies.
Gouda Cheese
This is a Dutch cheese from Gouda town in the Netherlands. It has a mild to strong taste with a semi-hard or hard texture. Owing to the differences in aging time between one-36 months, Gouda cheese varieties have diverse tastes. Young cheese has mild flavor while aged one has a deep flavor. Young Gouda cheese is best used when melted while aged cheese is ideally grated. You can use both varieties in casseroles, salads or with wine, flavored tea or apple or orange juice.
Cheese is the magic ingredient in most dishes nowadays. You cannot go wrong with the above cheese varieties in your ingredient cupboard. Do not cover it with plastic wrap when refrigerating it since this will affect the flavor of the cheese.
