Introduction to Making Cheese

Introduction to Making Cheese

As a cheesemaker, you first need to define the types of cheese you are making. This will determine the type of manufacturing and aging facilities, equipment, cultures, and other ingredients you need in order to reach the optimal flavor, texture, and shelf life for your cheese.

Cheesemaking has many variables. Make sure you know the regulations for fat and moisture composition, the use of raw milk, and aging requirements that apply to your cheeses.

Cheese can be made from cow, goat, sheep, or a mixture of milk. All milk should be of excellent quality, with a good amount of fat and protein, and low bacteria and somatic cell counts.

The basic steps that are common to most types of cheeses occur in the vat.

• First, you add bacterial starter culture and wait for the culture to start growing.
• Then you add an enzyme, like rennet, to coagulate the milk.
• The mass is then cut into curds, and curds begin to separate from the whey.
• The curds may be cooked to influence the properties of the final cheese.

The type of cheese determines:

• If the raw milk goes from the bulk tank to the pasteurizer or directly to the cheese vat.
• Processing variables like target times, temperatures, and pH values for each step.
• The type of packaging, and
• Aging and storage conditions.

For example, if you are making Cheddar cheese,

• The curds and whey are cooked, and then the whey is drained from the vat.
• Curds are allowed to knit together and form mats. The mats are cut, stacked, and flipped using the process known as "Cheddaring".
• When the curd mats reach the target pH, they are cut into small pieces and dry salted in the vat.
• The salted curds are put into cheese hoops and pressed.
• Then the cheese is taken out of the hoops and aged for a few months or even a few years!

An example of a different type of "make procedure" is blue cheese.

• Blue mold spores are added to the milk at the beginning of the process.
• After the curds are cut, the curds and whey are dipped into hoops with holes so the whey can drain.
• The cheese is removed from the hoops and salted on the outside.
• Then the wheels are pierced to provide air channels and put into a room with the correct temperature and relative humidity so that the blue mold can grow for weeks to months.
• Blue cheese needs to be stored in packaging that allows the cheese to breathe. If there is no air flow, the mold will die and create off-colors and off-flavors.

Because there are so many variables in cheesemaking, it is good to be familiar with the science, technology, and regulatory requirements for the specific types of cheese you are making.

Knowing your cheese varieties before you start will allow you to construct your facilities with all the areas you will need, and purchase the correct size equipment, supplies, and ingredients to optimize cheese quality and safety.

This program was developed by Food Safety CTS, LLC for Penn State University.