Wasik's Cheese Lecture

On December 5th, Bryan Wasik came to a Microbiology class as a guest lecturer. Can you guess what the topic is...?
CHEESE!
Mr. Wasik kindly brought over not one, not two, not three, but THIRTEEN DIFFERENT KINDS OF CHEESES for us all to try!
But what makes all these cheeses different?
It starts in the grass that cows graze on. The better the grass, the better the cheese. Simple as that.

The milk is collected from cows twice a day and put into a giant vat. Salt is added to the milk and then everything is heated. Last thing to add is the culture AKA microbes. 

In the olden days, cheese makers would stir the milk with their hands and the microbes on their hands would act as the "culture". Now the culture used is Rennit. 

Once this rennit is added to the milk, the enzymes within Rennet breaks down casein protein of milk, making the cheese coagulate and separate from whey. 

Once the cheese coagulates, the curds are pressed and microbes are left to work their magic. The flavor and smell is developed during this step. 
After going through all the science of the process, the class got to enjoy amazing cheeses from around the world. 

Cheeses ranged from fresh and soft cow and goat's cheese, to really moldy blue cheese.

Don't forget to check out Wasik's Cheese shop in Wellesley and ask about all their cheeses!