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How to Make Cheese
.jpg) Cheese making is a scientific process carried out by romantic artisans. Many aspirant cheese makers talk about a recipe for cheese making, though keen students with an academic leaning will tell you that cheese is not made from a recipe – you have to understand the chemical and bacteriological workings during every step in the cheese-making process. |
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| Be that as it may, it might well help the inquisitive cheese lover to understand the complexity of the cheese-making process better if it is explained in the following oversimplified way: | |
| 1. | Heat treatment, or not, of the milk |
| 1.1 | Raw milk not older than 24 hours |
| 1.2 | Pasteurization at 72-74 ºC for 30 seconds – artisan cheese makers prefer raw milk for a more robust flavour, but pasteurized milk is the preferred method for mass-produced cheese |
| 2. | Additions to the milk – the addition of one or more, or a combination, of the following is used by the cheese maker to make a specific cheese: |
| 2.1 | A natural colourant – annatto if a deep yellow cheese is desired |
| 2.2 | Ripening enzymes if the maturing process needs to be sped up |
| 2.3 | Calcium chloride to improve the coagulating process |
| 2.4 | Nitrates to inhibit the activities of contaminating bacteria |
| 2.5 | Mould spores for blue cheese |
| 2.6 | Bacteria, such as Bacterium Linens, for washed-rind cheeses |
| 2.7 | Propionic bacteria for eye formation |
| 2.8 | A starter culture to facilitate the fermentation process – only the addition of a starter culture is imperative, all others are to assist the cheese maker in his or her quest to produce a specific cheese |
| 3. | Coagulation of the milk – the cheese maker’s preference and cheese type dictate which one of the following methods will be used: |
| 3.1 | Lactic acid coagulation through the bacteria in the starter culture |
| 3.2 | With rennet, an enzyme derived from the fourth stomach of a calf |
| 3.3 | Microbial enzymes produced by non-animal micro-organisms |
| 4. | Coagulum and curd treatment – the coagulum of most soft cheeses is not cut but simply ladled into moulds after which the whey is drained and the cheese salted. In the case of all other cheeses, the coagulum is cut into small pieces of curd, which undergoes a combination of the following processes to be shaped into a specific cheese: |
| 4.1 | Stirred |
| 4.2 | Heated |
| 4.3 | Washed |
| 4.4 | Texturised |
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