Process
The job of the cheesemaker is to convert milk into cheese. The milk may be from a cow, goat, sheep or buffalo, although worldwide cow's milk is most commonly used. The cheesemaker applies craft and skill to the practise of cheesemaking, intending to produce a product with specific characteristics and organoleptic requirements (appearance, aroma, taste, texture) that are consistent every time it is made. This is not to say, of course, there is no room for variety or innovation, but a particular cheese needs to be made a particular way. Thus, the crafts and skills employed by the cheesemaker to make a Camembert will be similar to, but not quite the same as, those used to make Cheddar.
In modern industrial cheesemaking factories (sometimes called creameries) the craft elements of cheesemaking are retained to some extent, but there is more science than craft. This is seen particularly in factories that use Computer-aided manufacturing. The end product is very predictable. So in contrast, individual cheesemakers tend to operate on a much smaller scale and sell "handmade" products; each batch may differ, but their customers expect, indeed anticipate, that— much like for wines and teas and most other natural products.
Some cheeses may be deliberately left to ferment from naturally airborne spores and bacteria; this generally leads to a less consistent product but one that is highly valuable in a niche market for exactly that reason, no two are ever quite the same.
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Famous quotes containing the word process:
“The moralist and the revolutionary are constantly undermining one another. Marx exploded a hundred tons of dynamite beneath the moralist position, and we are still living in the echo of that tremendous crash. But already, somewhere or other, the sappers are at work and fresh dynamite is being tamped in place to blow Marx at the moon. Then Marx, or somebody like him, will come back with yet more dynamite, and so the process continues, to an end we cannot foresee.”
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