Welcome back to Ask Michelle, where I, a Cheesemonger and Certified Cheese Professional, answer all of your most burning cheese questions.
Why do the rinds on certain cheeses like Taleggio turn orange over time?
Taleggio, and other cheeses like it, are called washed rind cheeses. This means that a cheesemaker “washes” the rind (which essentially just means brushing or rubbing) with a solution in order to promote the kind of microbial activity they want, and dissuade microbial activity they don’t. Sometimes a cheese is washed with a simple salt brine solution, other times the brine is cultured (specific microbes added), or even sometimes with a spirit, which provides not only flavor, but also food for the colony they want to support. The microbial colony itself is what is orange, and is also what gives washed rind cheese its distinctive, funky aroma.
In turn, the microbes get to work breaking down fats and proteins in the cheese body, which are responsible for the flavor and texture of the finished cheese. Occasionally you’ll see a cheese that’s orange on the outside due to annatto coloring rather than bacteria, which brings us to our next question!
What makes cheeses different colors?
If you’ve spent any time at the cheese counter, you’ll no doubt have noticed the cheeses are a spectrum of colors from bright white to yellow to orange. Let’s talk about what makes each color happen, and what that can tell us about a cheese!
First, a note about beta carotene (this is important, I promise). Beta carotene is a pigment found in a bunch of plants and fungi, including grass. It’s what makes carrots orange, and our bodies convert it into vitamin A in our digestive tracts. Vitamin A deficiency can cause night blindness, dry eyes and skin, and a weakened immune system, so eat your veggies. But if you eat too much beta carotene, your skin might turn orange! This is alarming but harmless, and will go away once you step away from the carrots (or mangoes, etc).
Like humans, goats process beta carotene into vitamin A, so it doesn’t show up in their milk. Therefore, goat milk cheeses are characteristically stark white. Now that you know this, you’ll definitely notice the next time you’re in the shop! With age, sometimes they can become a pale beige color, but not yellow or golden.
Cows, on the other hand, do not process beta carotene like humans. When cows are on pasture, the excess pigment is expressed in their milk. You’ll notice that cheeses made in the spring and summer from the milk of grass fed cows will have a yellow tint. (Some breeds are more known for this than others, like Jersey cows, which are famous for their golden milk.) In winter, when the cows are eating hay, their milk becomes whiter again. This is a normal seasonal variation and nothing to be too concerned about, but it can tell you a lot about when a cheese was made.
Then there’s the orange cheeses, like aged Goudas and Wisconsin cheddars. These are orange thanks to annatto, a natural pigment derived from the seeds of the achiote plant. Originally, annatto in cheese likely came into fashion to make winter or hay-fed cheeses look grass-fed, but has since become an important part of the identities of some cheeses. For instance, Wisconsin cheddars are usually orange, while Vermont cheddars aren’t. Annatto itself doesn’t usually impart flavor into the cheese–it’s a completely aesthetic choice!
Thanks for your questions! See you next month for more answers to your cheesiest questions. Have a question for our Ask Michelle next blog?
Ask Michelle
Introducing: Ask Michelle! Each month, our Cheesemonger, Michelle, will answer YOUR cheese-related queries! Can you eat the rind? How should you store cheese in the fridge? What kind of mold is okay to eat? Submit your questions here and find answers in our monthly column!
