how to make cheese

How to Make Cheese
Cheese-making is a four-step process:

* curdling (or coagulation),
* draining and flavouring,
* moulding and pressing,
* and ripening or ageing.

making cheese

Curdling
Curdling or coagulation is the separation of the solid from the liquid components (whey separation) which is achieved by adding ripening cultures such as rennet or lactic acid bacteria. All cheeses are put through this process. There are two basic curdling methods and these are determined according to the type of cheese being made.

Sour-curd cheeses are made by adding lactic acid bacteria to milk, which make it clot into small grains of curd. Fresh-curd cheeses, cottage cheese, ricotta cheese and soft-curd cheeses like Brie and Camembert are examples of sour-curd cheeses.

Rennet cheeses are made by adding an enzyme which causes the formation of larger grains of curd. Hard cheeses are made this way.

Some cheeses are made by mixing both sour curd and rennet. Veined cheeses and semi-firm cheeses are examples of sour-rennet cheeses.

Draining
Draining consists in separating the curds and the whey to obtain the required moisture content for cheese. Sour curd is drained by letting the whey filter through the grains of curd into another tank for several hours at a time. To drain rennet curd, several active or manual techniques are used like stretching, kneading, cutting, mixing and heating.

Pressing
When a curd mass is placed in a cheese mould, it expels more whey and draws together. As a rule, hard cheeses are submitted to more pressure and have lower water content. For cheese types that are meant to have a relatively high water content like sour-curd cheeses, pressing is done by letting the upper layer of curds press down on the lower layer. Rennet cheeses are submitted to different levels of active pressure to the curd mass. It is sometimes heated as well.

The curd is transferred into perforated moulds of different shapes and sizes to continue whey expulsion or draining. Pressing is usually reserved for hard and semi-hard cheeses, but semi-soft cheeses are also lightly pressed. Cheeses are sprinkled or rubbed with salt or put in a brine bath. Salt acts as an antiseptic and also contributes to skin or rind formation and flavouring.

Finally, cheese can be waxed and sealed with Penicillium, or bacteria. It can also be washed in water, alcohol or brine. The cheese may also be covered with wood ashes, herbs, oil, or it can be smoked or painted like Port-Salut and Saint-Paulin.

Ripening
Ripening is a process by which the constituents of milk are further broken down to produce the required flavour, texture and aroma of a specific cheese. This delicate procedure requires an environment in which moisture, temperature and oxygen are controlled to promote maturation. There are two principal ripening methods that can be used.

Non-surface ripening
Ripening begins and continues homogenously from the inside of the cheese mass outwards. The cheese is later hermetically sealed or coated with wax to prevent the action of oxygen on its surface. Swiss cheeses with curd-hole formation and Cheddars are examples of non-surface ripened cheeses.

Surface ripening
Surface ripening begins on the outside of the cheese and progresses inwards. Micro-organisms are added to the surface of the cheese to promote skin or rind formation. Bloomy-rind and washed-rind cheeses are surface-ripened.