Cow milk is a key ingredient in these products.
“The cow’s milk we drink is slightly sweet, mild and subtle in flavour. Most of it comes from Friesian cows, yet there are more than 50 different breeds whose milk is suitable for cheesemaking. Milk from Guernsey cows, for instance, is rich and pale yellow with larger fat globules than most other types, so this milk tastes smoother and fuller. Water buffalo’s milk – used in Italy for making mozzarella – is ivory white, earthy and slightly nutty.”
“Of equal significance, is what the animals eat. Event the most unobservant amongst us cannot fail to see and smell the difference between fresh grass, wild clover and unspoilt meadows compared with compacted feed, silage, turnips and straw.
You only have to taste the great mountain cheeses of Europe (where, by law, the herds can only graze on natural pastures or sweet hay cut from Alpine meadows), to appreciate the difference. The amount of milk these cows give may be lower than that yielded by animals fed on lush green pastures or carefully prepared balanced diets of dried food supplement and vitamins, but the milk is rich and thick and the flavour is concentrated.”
From The World Encyclopedia of Cheese, 2010, Hermes House