Cheese

CHEESE PROCESSING

Most but not all cheeses result from a lactic fermentation of milk. In general, the process of manufacture consist of two important steps:

Milk is prepared and inoculated with an appropriate lactic starter, The starter produce lactic acid which, with added renin, gives rise to curd formation. The starter for cheese production my differ depending on the amount of heat applied to the curds. S.thermophilus is employed for acid production in cooked curds because it is more heat tolerant than either of the other more commonly used lactic starter; or a combination of S.thermophilus and L. lctis subsp. lactis is employed for curds that receive an intermediate cook.
The curds is shrunk and pressed followed by salting, and, in the case of ripened cheeses, allowed to ripen under conditions appropriate to the cheese in question.

Although most ripened cheeses are the product of metabolic activities of the lactic acids bacteria, several well-known cheeses owe their particular character to other related organisms.

Swiss Cheese	A mixed culture of L.delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus and S.themophilus is usually employed along with a culture of Propionibacterium shemanii, which is added to funtion during the ripening process in flavor development and eye formation.
Blue Cheese	The curds is inoculated with pores of Penicillium roqueforti which effect ripening and impart the blue-veined appearance characteristics of this type of cheese. Example: Roquefort Cheese

There are over 400 varieties of cheeses representing fewer than 20 distinct types, and these are grouped or classified according to texture or moisture content. The three classes of cheese are hard, semihard, and soft.

HARD CHEESE

They are all cheddar, Provolone, Romano, and Edam.

All hard cheeses are ripened by bacteria over periods ranging from 2 to 16 months.

Cheddar Cheese