The taste of Aura cheese has raised questions.
Has the taste of Aura cheese changed or not? This has sparked discussion on internet forums.
We also asked the readers of Iltalehti. The answer was surprising, because almost half of the almost 9,000 respondents thought that it had changed, and the other half thought that it had not.
There were only eight more “no” answers than “has changed” answers. There is rarely such an even vote.
Valio’s business manager Emma-Riikka Keron according to the recipe of the cheese produced since 1935 has not been changed.
– The taste and properties of Aura cheese are the sum of many factors. No changes have been made to the product’s recipe or manufacturing methods, Kero writes in his email.
However, he notes that the manufacturing methods and raw materials have changed since the 1930s, but the basic principles and manufacturing steps have not.
This is what it comes down to
Kero has an explanation for possible taste changes.
He says that the cheese continues to ripen on the store shelf and in the refrigerator at home. At the same time, its taste develops.
– The storage temperature has a significant effect on the ripening of the cheese. We have not systematically compared cheeses in terms of storage temperature, but we know that Aura cheese is particularly sensitive to the effects of storage temperature, Kero emphasizes.
He reminds us that this is why the package says: “Keep unopened below +8 degrees for at least the day indicated on the package. We recommend keeping the cheese at 2-5 degrees to guarantee the best taste.”
Kero reminds us that fermented milk products are always about natural processes caused by the leaven.
– Part of the variation in taste can be explained by how the products are stored and used at home, because for example the ripening of cheese and the activity of yogurt’s fermenting bacteria continue throughout the product’s life cycle, and the storage and eating temperature has an effect on this.
Other than blue cheeses continue to be asked in home refrigerators.
The entrepreneur of the Rolling Cheese cheese shop in Helsinki Nellie Steer states to Iltalehte that when you buy so-called gourmet cheese, you should immediately take it out of the plastic wrap at home. If you don’t have cheese paper, you can wrap a piece of cheese in butter paper or baking paper.
Everyday cheeses sold in plastic packages are a different matter, because they are matured in plastic and are meant to be eaten quickly.
– Cheese is a living product and it must breathe. If you put cheese in plastic wrap or a plastic box and thus close off its oxygen supply, it goes bad very quickly, says Steer.
According to Steer, cheese should be stored in the home refrigerator for no more than two weeks. Hard cheese in itself does not go bad quickly, but there are many other items in the refrigerator that affect the characteristics of the cheese.
According to him, the home refrigerator is for storing cheese, not for ripening it. The ripening temperatures are separate and professionals take care of the cheeses during ripening.
Readers advise
Iltalehti’s reader gives a tip.
– It is recommended to open the Aura package the day before the meal and then close it and put it in the fridge. When the cheese gets air, it turns from plastic wax into a real, crumbly Aura cheese, a reader writes on Iltalehti’s website.
Another reader commented on asking about the cheeses:
– Many cheeses need ripening before consumption. It is then a matter of everyone’s taste at what stage of maturity they want to eat. Such cheeses are living products and cannot be sold when they are just right. In particular, you need to know how to eat Camembert at just the right time. Usually it is not ripe enough to eat even the best before the day. You have to be able to see the ripening stage that suits you on the surface of the cheese.
One reader reminds us of the ripeness of eating a banana:
– Why on earth should anything be done when the reasons for consumers’ observations are part of the matter as they always have been. And those reasons are therefore beyond the manufacturer’s reach, i.e. on the timeline only after the cheese has left the factory for the stores. That is, storage temperature, eating temperature and elapsed time. The cheese continues to ripen all the time and thus the taste also changes. Bananas ripen all the time, and a greenish banana is completely different from a brown one.