eatchicago wrote:
I was always under the following impressions about lactose and cheese:
The only cheeses that really have any significant levels of lactose are fresh and young cheeses. As a cheese ages, it's lactose levels reduce dramatically. Most cheese that we consume contains virtually no lactose.
Can someone with a chemistry degree or a greater knowledge of food science confirm or deny this?
I'd guess this place is using the same aged or dried mozz. that any other place would use and they're banking on a gimmick.
A little google searching came up with this:
http://oldworldcheese.com/faq.LactoseIntolerance.htmBest,
Michael
In the process of developing Dean's Easy milk, I learned a fair amount about lactose and lactose intolerance. With regard to lactose in cheese, there are basically three things going on:
1) Fermentation - The milk for cheese is usually ripened using any/many of a number of beneficial bacteria; any fermentation process basically involves bacteria feeding on sugars, in the case of milk, that sugar is lactose. The little critters don't eat all the lactose in the milk, but they do reduce it significantly. (Of course, in the case of cheeses ripened with acid rather than bacteria or yeast, this doesn't apply, but there aren't many of those out there. One tasty example is lemon cheese - easy to make - just add the juice from two or three lemons to a quart of milk at 170°, let it sit for 15 minutes or so 'til the curd separates from the whey, ladle the curd into a colander lined with very fine cheesecloth, let it sit for a few minutes for some of the whey to drain off, tie the cheesecloth into a bag by gathering up the corners, and hang over a bowl or the sink for a few hours, to drain off more whey. You've got a nice fresh spreadable, lightly lemony cheese - but I digest .... er, digress.)
2) Draining off whey - most of any remaining lactose goes with the whey, rather than staying with the curd.
3) Fat - it slows down digestion a bit, thus mitigates the lactose load on the intestine, where most people still have at least a little lactase hanging around (lactase is the enzyme that converts the disaccharide lactose into the easily digested monosaccharides glucose and galactose). With a few exceptions, the further your ancestors were from Northern Europe, the less likely you are to have much lactase in your gut after infancy. Hence, there are many degrees of lactose intolerance.
It is possible to make a lactose-free cheese by adding lactase (best known commercial brand, LactAid) directly to the milk before the bacteria acidify it (they'll be just as happy munching on the monosaccharides), but unless its an acid-set cheese, the procedure probably doesn't offer any significant digestive benefits.
You are now permitted to return to the discussion of the pros and cons of Flourchild's.
Login
Register
FAQ
Search
