{"id":39586,"date":"2021-02-17T08:00:03","date_gmt":"2021-02-17T13:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/?p=39586"},"modified":"2022-01-04T11:25:42","modified_gmt":"2022-01-04T16:25:42","slug":"ruminations-function-beyond-flavor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/ruminations-function-beyond-flavor\/","title":{"rendered":"Ruminations: Function Beyond Flavor"},"content":{"rendered":"

H<\/span>erbal teas on the market are sold with functions in mind\u2014\u201cthroat coat,\u201d \u201ctummy tamer,\u201d and \u201cbreathe easy\u201d are some of the names you\u2019ll see associated with tea brands. A list of ingredients adorns the back of the box, but how do these herbs help treat particular ailments? This was a curiosity of mine that flourished in the midst of a time when all I wanted to do was heal myself and others\u2014our physical and emotional bodies screaming for peace.<\/p>\n

I rummaged through my tea drawer and began to research herbs one by one. Quickly, I learned that herbs have specific properties: terms like antiviral, antioxidant, antifungal, antimicrobial, and nervine (calming) came up frequently in my readings. These properties exist within the volatile essential oils present in certain herbs, flowers, seeds, barks, roots, and berries.<\/p>\n

Capturing the volatile oils of aromatic plants in water as a tea became a mission for me as I created herbal blends that would soon fill my online shop, Kristini\u2019s Teas<\/a>. Through the development process, I began to notice the herbs I was working with being used in other foods\u2014especially cheeses.<\/p>\n

Cheese is often rubbed with herbs, flowers, and spices\u2014that\u2019s nothing new. Product descriptions usually say something like \u201crubbed with aromatic herbs.\u201d The adjective \u201caromatic\u201d refers to the noun \u201caroma,\u201d and the aroma comes from the volatile oils that hold those special properties. Volatile oils are best captured in fats\u2014\u201cblooming\u201d spices in oil is a prime example of this method.<\/p>\n

I spoke with a few cheesemakers who use aromatic plants in innovative ways. Tricia Smith of Ruggles Hill Creamery<\/a> includes herbs \u201cdiscretely in the midline\u201d of her Claire\u2019s Mandell Hill<\/a> cheese. \u201cI want their flavors to hint, not dominate the cheese itself, and I don\u2019t want the herbs intruding on the mouth feel of the rind,\u201d Smith says. Other cheesemakers, such as Capriole Goat Cheeses<\/a>, prefer to place herbs on the rind. For Juliana, \u201cwe use calendula and safflower for aesthetic pop, and the herbes de Provence pair nicely with the mushroom-y notes of the Penicillium candidum mold on the rind,\u201d says manager Tim Johnstone. Peter Jenkelunas, associate director of caves at Murray\u2019s Cheese<\/a>, tests herbs and flowers for their staying power. \u201cWe have tried aging cheeses with different types of flowers over the years, but many will lose their color and turn brown over time,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Perhaps we can think of these aromatic plants serving other functions as well\u2014keeping out pathogenic bacteria, preventing the cheese from oxidizing\u2014which, along with salt, ultimately help prolong shelf life. A study published in the Journal of Food Quality in 2018 showed that summer savory\u2019s \u201cessential oil represent[s] a viable solution for increasing the functionality, increasing the shelf-life period, and preventing the development of Staphylococcus aureus in fresh cheese.\u201d Research also exists on the effects of cheese rubbed with lavender, cinnamon, clove, dill, oregano, yarrow, pine, anise, sage, thyme, rosemary, hyssop, or chamomile. There\u2019s a wealth of other antimicrobial, antifungal, and antioxidant herbs out there, too. What more can we research? And, more excitingly, what else can we rub cheese with?<\/p>\n

\n

The following cheeses are some of my favorites that incorporate aromatic plants:<\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

LE MAR\u00c9CHAL<\/strong><\/a><\/h4>\n

Granges-Marnand, Switzerland<\/em><\/p>\n

Aromatic plants rubbed onto the cheese:<\/p>\n

\u25baOregano harbors antioxidant, antibacterial, antiviral, and antifungal properties\u2014a true \u201ccure-all\u201d kind of herb<\/p>\n

\u25baThyme has potent antiseptic and antifungal properties, among many others<\/p>\n

CLAIRE\u2019S MANDELL HILL<\/strong><\/a><\/h4>\n

Ruggles Hill Creamery, Hardwick MA<\/em><\/p>\n

Aromatic plants inside the cheese:<\/p>\n

\u25baSummer savory is antimicrobial<\/p>\n

\u25baThyme<\/p>\n

\u25baLavender has strong antimicrobial and nervine properties<\/p>\n

\u25baFennel aids digestion<\/p>\n

\u25baRosemary is another useful herb for digestion, and it helps calm headache<\/p>\n

JULIANNA<\/strong><\/a><\/h4>\n

Capriole Goat Cheese, Greenville IN<\/em><\/p>\n

Aromatic plants rubbed outside the cheese:<\/p>\n

\u25baCalendula is antioxidant, antimicrobial, and anti-inflammatory\u2014a truly powerful plant.<\/p>\n

\u25baSafflower is antioxidant and anti-inflammatory.<\/p>\n

\u25baHerbes de Provence<\/p>\n

HUDSON FLOWER<\/strong><\/a><\/h4>\n

Old Chatham Sheepherding Co. & Murray\u2019s Cheese, New York NY<\/em><\/p>\n

Aromatic plants rubbed outside the cheese:<\/p>\n

\u25baRosemary<\/p>\n

\u25baLemon Thyme<\/p>\n

\u25baChervil is closely related to anise, dill, and parsley\u2014all of which have antimicrobial properties<\/p>\n

\u25baHops flowers contain the resins lupulin and humulin, which help keep bacterial growth in check (in addition to imparting flavor, this is why the flower is such an important ingredient in beer!)<\/p>\n

LAITBLOOMER<\/strong><\/a><\/h4>\n

Murray\u2019s Cheese, New York, NY<\/em><\/p>\n

Aromatic plants rubbed outside the cheese:<\/p>\n

\u25baCalendula<\/p>\n

\u25baElderflowers have antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Aromatic plants can add more than flavor to your next cheesy snack.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39587,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"wprm-recipe-roundup-name":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-description":"","cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[590],"tags":[27477,27461,27462,27460,27459,27456,27467,27466,27480,26522,27465,27473,2965,27457,27469,1716,27479,27472,27455,27481,18921,26978,1118,27463,27474,27470,22321,27476,2801,27052,27468,5023,27458,27478,27471,27464,27475],"coauthors":[23891],"class_list":["post-39586","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ruminations","tag-anise","tag-antifungal","tag-antimicrobial","tag-antioxidant","tag-antiviral","tag-aromatic-herbs","tag-calendula","tag-capriole-goat-cheeses","tag-chamomile","tag-cinnamon","tag-claires-mandell-hill","tag-clove","tag-dill","tag-herbel-tea","tag-herbes-de-provence","tag-hudson-flower","tag-hyssop","tag-journal-of-food-quality","tag-kristinis-teas","tag-laitbloomer","tag-lavender","tag-le-marechal","tag-murrays-cheese","tag-nervine","tag-oregano","tag-penicillium-candidum","tag-peter-jenkelunas","tag-pine","tag-rosemary","tag-ruggles-hill-creamery","tag-safflower","tag-sage","tag-tea-with-cheese","tag-thyme","tag-tim-johnstone","tag-tricia-smith","tag-yarrow"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nRuminations: 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