Dairy Products

Milk is the first food mammals receive when they are born, and it continues to give warmth and nourishment until the youngster is able to take solid food. Today, I still dip bread into a bowl of milk when I want a comforting snack. The amazing transformation of milk into cheese is almost as old as humanity. It is a miracle that is brought about by a coagulating agent, either from the stomach of a milk-fed calf or an artificial chemical or vegetable coagulant from the flower of the cardoon, or the milk of the fig plant or even from some fungi. When the coagulant is added to the milk, the whey separates from the curds, producing a mass which can be strained, pasteurized, fermented or aged, until it turns into what we know as cheese.