If you are a fan of the cheeses made from raw or pasteurized milkCamembert or Brie type, it is likely that at some point you have been annoyed to see that they emanated a ammonia-like odor. Surely, despite this, you have eaten them anyway because it is difficult to resist this type of cheese. Have you done the right thing? We explain it to you below!
Beforehand, it is advisable to review what these cheeses are like, which, as they mature, acquire a odor getting stronger, at the same time that they harden and their bark acquires an increasingly darker hue. Because it never hurts to know why things happen, especially when we talk about eating things.
What cheeses are we talking about?
As we said at the beginning, this feature is very characteristic of cheeses made with raw or pasteurized milk. Especially it occurs in those of white moldy bark (Camembert or Brie), but also in those with gray rind (Saint Maure).
They are cheeses that, generally, those who enjoy eating them choose to leave them out of the refrigerator, so that they mature outside at room temperature. It is something that the consumer likes to do both with those mentioned above and with the semi-hard washed rind (Munster or Livarot), which can be kept out of the fridge without any problem. That yes, his thing is that they are not much more than two or three days and that they remain in their containers (if you wrap them in a damp cloth you already embroider it).
Do you know why your cheese smells like ammonia?
We could start talking about amino acids and peptide bonds, but we are going to try to be as non-technical as possible so that anyone can understand What is the reason for that particular smell? which makes more than one consider continuing to live with that person who loves this type of cheese.
We will say that this smell comes from a chemical and microbiological process that occurs as a result of the protein breakdown. And it turns out that the white moulds, which are conscientiously added in the final part of the production of these cheeses, are great consumers of protein.
Specifically, what happens is that, as they are consumed little by little, they break the molecules in a process known as proteolysis, and it is this process of progressive breakdown that generates the ammonia molecules. On a visual level, what we see at this point is that the cheese becomes creamier or more unctuous.
In order to differentiate if the cheese is at its optimum moment or not, let’s use an example. It is known that a Camembert at its point has to have a peculiar smell (similar to the humus of the floor of a beech forest, a cave, mushrooms, etc.) but there comes a time when maturation reaches a higher level and what we find is that the smell of ammonia already stands out above the rest.
This tells us that the cheese has exceeded its optimal consumption point, although you can eat it without any problem. Hey, we’re talking about a slight ammonia scent. If it is too intense and in the mouth the flavor is predominant, it is best that we throw it away and move on.
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