“Store Wars” meets “The Meatrix”

Thanks to Winnifred for pointing us in this direction. It seems creative animators get off on the theme of “organic agriculture vs the agribiz monolith”. And here are a few more shreds of evidence in support of that thesis. Note: nothing specifically about raw milk:

Grocery Store Wars:

The Meatrix:

Science of raw milk cheese enzymes

lipoprotein lipase, a factor in raw milk cheese

We hear all the time how much better and more complex of flavour raw milk cheese is, as compared to cheese made  from pasteurized milk. Here’s a brief little snippet of science showing the kind of factors that contribute to that difference. This is from a website called “cheesescience.net” from a guy who teaches graduate-level courses in the biochemistry of cheese. Here’s some of what he says about lipoprotein lipase:

“Milk contains quite high levels of an indigenous lipase, lipoprotein lipase (LPL). Like many enzymes in milk, LPL enters milk from the cow’s blood. The physiological role of LPL is in the metabolism of plasma triglycerides. Milk contains sufficient LPL activity to cause perceptible rancidity very quickly under optimal conditions. The reason milk does not become rancid is ude to compartmentalisation of enzyme and substrate…”

Artisan cheddar — “cult wine” of cheese

A Vermont cheddar by justly-famed makers of raw cheeses.

Once again another cheese report from the San Francisco Chronicle’s SF Gate website in which it’s slyly implied that the cheese under discussion is in fact raw, but they don’t come right out and say it and neither do they say it’s pasteurized. One wonders what’s behind an editorial pattern like that. Anyway, here’s a bit of what they have to say about this Vermont cloth-wrapped artisan cheddar:

“When Cabot clothbound cheddar won best of show at the American Cheese Society’s annual competition two years ago, the news electrified the audience. Vermont’s largest dairy had partnered with one of its smallest in a pioneering cheesemaking venture, and the judges had given their effort a big thumbs-up. It was as if Gallo had asked Screaming Eagle to help it make a cult Cabernet.

With about 1,400 farmer members, Cabot Creamery produces millions of pounds of waxed supermarket cheddar every year. But five years ago, the giant co-op approached the two young brothers who run the tiny Jasper Hill Farm about collaborating. The Kehlers and their wives milk about 40 Ayrshire cows and make minuscule amounts of raw-milk cheese – notably, Bayley Hazen Blue and Constant Bliss – by hand. Cabot wanted to make a traditional clothbound cheddar but didn’t have the proper environment to mature it.