Naive Consumer's Blog

Cheese is used everywhere. There is even a theory that cheese can make any dish better. It’s a product that perfectly combines with sandwiches, pastas, omelets, meat and many more. It’s hard to imagine many dishes without cheese.
People love cheese. In 2005 there was a research that showed that in average every year people all over the world consume about 31,4 pounds of cheese per person! And it’s pretty surprisingly that United States take the leading place among countries manufacturing this delicious product.
There are dozens of sorts of cheese, and every of them has its specifications. Buying cheese is not that easy as we are used to think. When buying cheese one should pay attention to the slightest details that will show whether the product is good. The problem of food quality has become very important nowadays. I’ve been searching on the Internet and found many comments on cheese quality. It appeared that many of us do not know how to buy this product. So, if you are not sure in you know about cheese everything, this article will become a great cheese guide for you.
The first thing you should remember about is that cheese has to be sold separately from any other food (meat, sausages etc.).
1. Try to buy cheese in good stores. In this case you will not only get a high quality product, but will also receive all the information abut manufacturer.
2. Pay attention to the color and consistency. Good cheese has yellowish coloring thank to carotin contained in grass eaten by cows. If cheese is pale it means that it was made of sour milk or it has too much salt.
Speaking about consistency, there are several kinds of it: hard, semi-hard and soft. Hard cheese easily breaks, and soft one is quite flexible.
3. Pay attention to cheese edges. As a rule, edges haven’t to be cracky or crumbly. But notice that there are some exclusions. For example, Spanish cheese “Idiasable” is considered to be a delicacy only in case its borders are crumbly and cracky.
4. Cheese “tears”. When a piece of cheese is cut there appear small water drops, so called “tears”. If there are no “tears”, be sure this cheese is not ripe enough.
5. Don’t ever buy cheese that smells like ammonia. If you buy cheese in a paper, do not take sticky and wet product.
6. If there is an opportunity to taste cheese, do not ignore it.
7. Do not be attracted by cheap cheese. Low price is not an indicator of high quality and excellent taste.
8. Read labels. Many companies use intensive technology that includes replacing a large part of milk with cheap vegetable fats.
If you are not sure about quality of the cheese you are going to buy, don’t do that. The best cases of eating bad cheese included spoiled taste of a dish, the worst ones – poisoning. Always take into consideration conditions in which cheese is kept.