Smile for good cheese

WASHINGTON, Jan. 30 (UPI) -- Reverse that hackneyed photographer's command and, goodness! How cheese would benefit!

Say cheese, and smile.

For people who will only eat once they've examined the calorific and cholesterol implications of what is on their plate, cheese raises the most ugly threat.

What is the point of the stuff? It is fatty. It is smelly. And some of it could make you very ill.

This suspicion centers on the use of raw milk, key component in the great cheeses of the world.

Yet until 1949, there was no law against its common use in the making of American cheese. During World War II, cheesemakers were among those called up to fight. They were replaced by less experienced artisans at a time when manufacture was increased to meet government demands for huge amounts of cheese to fuel the war effort. Quality and safety were compromised.

The FDA ruled that raw milk cheeses should be aged at least 60 days at a chilly 35 degrees Fahrenheit to kill off any harmful bacteria. Nevertheless, the practice of hand-making raw milk cheeses flourished in California, Vermont, Wisconsin and New York state.

Illnesses related to cheese are rare -- six reported between 1948 and 1988 in more than 100 billion pounds produced. Milk's lactic acid, along with the salt added in the cheese-making process, destroys the most harmful bacteria.

But following representations in 1998 from American industrial cheese manufacturers, the FDA decreed that pasteurization should now begin with pasteurizing the milk.

John Gilbert Davis, who wrote four volumes on "Cheese," insists the farmhouse cheese maker, using milk from his own herd, shouldn't have to pasteurize. "Such a need would indicate extremely careless methods of production for which there is no excuse," he said.

It's in the factory process, where gallons of milk come in from multiple sources whose hygiene standards are hard to track, that pasteurization makes sense.

More alarming, the following year the FDA announced it was investigating whether the 60 days' aging process was actually enough to kill off pathogens in raw-milk cheese. If they decide it is not, pasteurization will be required of imported, as well as domestic, cheeses.

Farewell Parmigiano, Roquefort, Gruyere and the Cheddars of England and Vermont. Not to mention all the hundreds of other glories.

You won't easily find any raw milk cheeses under 60 days old in the United States. Which means that unless you have traveled in Europe, you won't have eaten the Emperor of Cheeses, Vacherin Mont d'Or, a cheese so unctuous you have to spoon it from its box.

Nor would you have tasted Cotherstone, a young chalky upstart from the north of England.

And you will never have eaten a real Brie.

If cheeses hand-made from raw milk are about to be banned, I urge you to try them while you can. Because if you do, you will learn why it is worth joining the fight to prevent pasteurization.

It's a fight to preserve taste.

However, exciting cheeses are not limited to the raw milk variety.

Seek out some aged or pasteurized American cheeses made by traditional methods in small dairies. There are an extraordinary number of them, hand-made by devoted artisans.

Last year's American Cheese Society top award was won by Pleasant Ridge Reserve, a semi-hard washed-rind cheese made from the milk of free-grazing cows by Mike and Carol Gingrich of Uplands Cheese.

Grafton Village Cheese Company, and Cabot Creamery - a nationally distributed maker - are behind award-winning Vermont Cheddars.

St. George is an up-to-7-month-old cheddar-style version of the Azores' Sao Jorge, made by Joe and Mary Matos in Santa Rosa, Calif.

If you want a soft-ripened cheese, look for La Petite Crème from Marin French Cheese Co. Or fresh mozzarella, ricotta and mascarpone from Paula Lambert's tiny Mozzarella Co., in downtown Dallas.

Admittedly it's idiosyncratic, but in my view, the most exciting cheeses are found in the goat category.

There must be something about the animals attractive to female artisan cheese makers. They lead in goats' cheese production.

From the milk of a mere 8 goats, Peggy King makes 50 pounds of Walnut Bank each week, in suburban Philadelphia.

Queens of goats' cheese are: Mary Keehn in Northern California, who makes the pyramid-shaped Humboldt Fog quite widely available from good markets. Laura Chenel, in Sonoma County, has developed an excellent Chevre, an aged Cabecou button, marinated with herbs, and outstanding Crottin and Taupiniere.

Jennifer Bice produces Redwood Hill Camellia from goats that crop the vineyard slopes near Sebastapol, Calif. -- a wonderful smooth cheese with a runny interior.

Judy Schad is behind Capriole's Wabash Cannonball, given a "Best American Cheese" vote by the American Cheese Society.

The more readily found Coach Farm goat cheeses, however, are "man" made, by Miles Cahn.

Take the plunge. If we continue to be fearful of cheese, it is more likely that we will kill cheese before it kills us.

And if you can't find interesting artisan cheeses locally, a number of places will ship, including Cowgirl Creamery at Tomales Bay Foods (415)663-5418, www.cowgirlcreamery.com and www.formaggiokitchen.com.

Useful addresses

Vermont Cheese Council (888) 523-7454, www.vtcheese.com

Wisconsin Cheese Council, www.wisspecialcheese.org

Some artisan cheese makers

www.cabotcheese.com

Capriole, Greenville, Ind. (812) 923-9408

The Coach Farm, Pine Plains, N.Y., (518) 398-5325

www.graftonvillagecheese.com

Laura Chenel's Chevre (707) 996-4477

Marin French Cheese Co., www.marinfrenchcheese.com

Mary Keehn's Cyprus Grove Farm, McKinleyville, Calif. (707) 839-3168

Mozzarella Co., www.mozzco.com