Cheese aging on shelves. Fouque Michael / Getty Images via Canva Pro.
Affinage is a French word meaning the ripening or maturing period, usually used in reference to cheeses.
An “affineur” is a cheese ager — someone who purchases young cheeses, and then matures then in certain conditions to achieve desired tastes. Some cheeses, such as Brie de Meaux, are often sold with the name of the affineur on them, instead of that of the actual producer.
The more cheeses aging in a room, the more moisture will be released into the air and therefore the more moisture will be retained in the cheeses. A hung cloth can be used to retain even more moisture in the room. The fewer cheeses, the drier the air will be and the more moisture will be leeched from the cheeses. [1]5 Things We Learned from the 2015 American Cheese Society Conference. Culture Magazine. 31 July 2015. Accessed September 2022 at https://culturecheesemag.com/blog/5-things-learned-2015-american-cheese-society-conference-friday/
Other cheese technical terms
- Casein
- Cooked-Curd Cheeses
- Creamery
- Double-Cream Cheese
- Fat Content of Cheeses
- Longhorn Cheese
- Pate (of a Cheese)
- Pressed-Curd Cheeses
- Raw Curd Cheeses
- Rennet
- Semi-Cooked Curd Cheeses
- Skim-Milk Cheeses
- Smear-Ripened Cheeses
- Stretched Curd Cheeses
- Sweet Curd Cheeses
- Triple-Cream Cheese
- Truckle
- Turophile
- Washed-Curd Cheeses
References
| ↑1 | 5 Things We Learned from the 2015 American Cheese Society Conference. Culture Magazine. 31 July 2015. Accessed September 2022 at https://culturecheesemag.com/blog/5-things-learned-2015-american-cheese-society-conference-friday/ |
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