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| Blue fenugreek from South Tyrol in flower |
Cheese is produced in a wide area from Ireland to Central Asia, and from
Northern Africa to Norway; but the countries of Western and Central Europe
produce the greatest variety of cheese products. That has several reasons:
Production of milk has a tradition going back several millennia in these
thin-populated areas, and there is general tolerance for lactose in the
population; consequently, cheese is produced as a kind of “preserved milk”
that allows to store the nutritional value of milk protein.
Furthermore, in the Alps a large number of regional cheese traditions has
evolved due to geographic isolation.
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| Flowers of blue fenugreek |
Milk, essentially, contains two different types of proteins: Casein, which precipitates when treated with acid or certain enzymes, and lactoglobulines, (whey proteins) which are more soluble. Most cheese types consist only of the former, which is precipitated, dried and then allowed to ripen in a fashion characteristic for each cheese. Ripening is usually performed with bacteria, often types which are local to a specific region; some cheeses, however, are treated with molds (often of genus Penicillum); that procedure leads to a particularly strong and characteristic aroma.
In cheese production, spices are of minor importance. There are some
soft cheeses flavoured with garlic or
pepper (usually green pepper), but other
spices are seen only rarely. In Southern Germany, there are local cheeses
spiced with caraway; I have read that
cumin is used for the same purpose in
Holland and France, but I have never seen such a cheese. Hungary, of course,
has some paprika-flavoured cheese varieties.
Fresh cheese, which has only a mild flavour, is often covered with dried
herbs (oregano, thyme),
particularly in the Mediterranean.
Lastly, some cheeses contain annatto seed extract
(bixin) as a colourant, e.g., British cheddar.
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| Swiss cheese flavoured with blue fenugreek |
Cheese flavoured with blue fenugreek (Schabzigerkäse, occasionally transcribed into English as “sap sago cheese”) is a specialty local to the region around Glarus, in the Swiss canton of the same name. This cheese is twice ripened, ground, mixed with blue fenugreek powder and then cast into its final shape. Blue fenugreek not only gives a unique flavour, but also a pale green colour to this cheese. Like most other hard cheese varieties, Schabziger is mostly used as a flavouring: It is a tasty, unusual alternative to Italian Parmigiano for pasta dishes; it can be used for several types of stuffings; or can be mixed with butter to give a milder bread spread.
Blue fenugreek is not commonly used to
flavour other types of cheese, besides bread spreads based on cottage
cheese. It is, generally, not much used for foods prepared in
home kitchens, although it is occasionally called for in Swiss
potato foods, where it indeed makes good appearance. I have read rumours
about blue fenugreek being a component of the Georgian spice mixture
khmeli-suneli (see marjoram),
but that is maybe just a confusion with regular
fenugreek herb, although blue fenugreek does
grow in Georgia.
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| Inflorescence of blue fenugreek |
Independently, blue fenugreek appears in another specialty of the Alps, namely South Alpine rye breads, whence the name Brotklee (“bread clover”). Ground blue fenugreek leaves are added in minute amounts to the dough of rye breads in Tyrol and Southern Tyrol (which is part of Italy, where it is referred to as Alto Adige). These breads, already quite flavourful, acquire a unique taste from the blue fenugreek. The herb is dried by a special procedure including a fermentation step; therefore, it acquires a strong, characteristic aroma.
Rye breads (often referred to as dark or black breads) are a typical food of the cooler regions of Europe, since rye thrives better than wheat in such climate. Gluten, the protein that makes wheat flour dough elastic, is mostly absent from rye, and consequently, rye bread is dense and less aired than wheat bread; furthermore, they have a “dark”, earthy flavour that anybody accustomed to rye bread will miss when travelling through regions where only wheat bread is baked. Because of their more intense base aroma, rye breads are quite often flavoured with spices, e.g., pumpkin seeds, coriander, fennel or caraway fruits.
Outside of Central, Eastern and Northern Europe, bread is mostly produced from
wheat flour (“white bread”); there are innumerable local varieties differing
in the composition of the dough, the fermentation procedure and additional
components (diary products, boiled potatoes, olive
oil). Wheat bread is often flavoured with nutty-tasting seeds sprinkled
over the surface before baking (poppy,
sesame); sometimes, the dough is enriched with
flavourings (fried onions, garlic). In the Eastern Mediterranean, bread
flavoured with mahaleb cherry stones is baked, and
Turkish breads often are sprinkled with nigella
seeds. In the Indian Himalayas, I have once eaten ajwain-sprinkled bread, but I think this was quite an
exception and not typical for cuisine in Ladakh.
