Principles of cheese manufacture.

The cheese manufacture is essentially the controlled syneresis of the rennet milk coagulum, the expulsion of moisture being affected by: I) acid development, the pH falling from 6.6 to about 5.0 as a result of lactic acid produced by the lactic acid bacteria of the starter, chiefly Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis and Lactococcus lactis subsp. cremoris, ii) warmth, the temperature being raised to about 31 °C for renneting and to about 38 C for scalding the curd, and especially iii) repeated cutting of the curd and stirring.

Although some soft cheese varieties are consumed fresh, i.e. without a ripening period, the production of the vast majority of cheese varieties can be subdivided into two well-defined phases, manufacture and ripening.

 

The manufacturing phase might be defined as those operations performed during the first 24 h, although some of these operations,e.g. salting and dehydration, may continue over a longer period. Although the manufacturing protocol for individual varieties differ in detail, the basic steps are common to most varieties; these being:acidification, coagulation, dehydration (cutting the coagulum, cooking, stirring, pressing, salting and other operations that promote gel syneresis), shaping (moulding and pressing), and salting. (Fig. )

 

General protocol for cheese manufacture.