Dairy products and milk-based food ingredients - Natural Food Additives, Ingredients and Flavourings - page 424

In the manufacture of cheeses such as cheddar, homofermentative starters
( Lactococcus lactis subsp. Lactis and Lactococcus lactis subsp. Cremoris), which
produce mainly lactic acid, have traditionally been used to achieve a clean, sharp,
acid fl avour. Contemporary cheddar makers (and others) seeking to enhance the
fl avour of their cheese - and the interest of consumers - may also add, for example,
Lactobacillus helveticius, Lactobacillus plantarum and Pediococcus acidilacti to
give sweet, savoury and sharp notes (Danisco 2008).
With some cheeses even more diverse fl avour notes are required as well as, at
times, eye holes (e.g. the Swiss cheeses, emmental and gruyere). Heterofermentative
starters are used in these cheeses to produce in situ a variety of fl avour compounds,
including lactic acid, alcohol, acetaldehyde, other aldehydes, ketones and carbon
dioxide (CO 2 ) which gives eye holes. For example Leuconostoc lactis gives lactic
acid, diacetyl and CO 2 , while Propionibacterium shermanii yields propionic acid
and CO 2 .
After an initial ripening stage chymosin is added to cheesemilk. This forms the
curd which, after a suitable time to allow structure development, is cut to release the
whey which contains water, whey proteins, lactose, water soluble vitamins and
minerals. Depending on the cheese being produced, the curd is manipulated to
ensure continued drainage and to prepare the curd for transfer usually to moulds
which impart the characteristic cheese shape. In the production of many hard-
pressed cheeses (e.g. cheddar), the curd temperature is raised from the milk ripening
temperature to the scald temperature to encourage syneresis. In the case of washed-
curd cheeses (e.g. edam), water may be added to the draining curd to ensure removal
of whey solids. This reduces acidity and sodium nitrate (E251) is added as the
reduced nitrite ion is bacteriostatic against gas-blowing clostridium species and the
pathogen, Clostridium botulinum . In the production of mould-ripened cheeses such
as camembert, curd is gently transferred to cheese moulds to allow whey drainage.
Table 17.6 outlines the production of cheddar cheese and camembert.

Table 17.6 Production outlines for cheddar and camembert

Cheddar production Camembert production

￿ ￿ ￿ ￿ ￿

Day 1 Day 1 (Milk preparation)

1. Standardise raw milk to give a fat to casein ratio
of 1:0.7.

1. Pasteurize raw milk.
2. Standardize protein to fat ratio.

2. Pasteurize at 71.9°C for 15 seconds. 3. Add 0.2-0.5% starter at 8-12°C.

3. Cool to 29.5°C and fi ll cheese vats.
4. Add cheese starter at 1.5-3.0% of the milk
volume - usually a mixed culture of lactic acid
bacteria (LAB) based on Lactococcus lactis subsp.
Lactis and Lactococcus lactis subsp. Cremoris.
5. Ripen for 45-60 minutes - suffi cient time for the
titratable acidity (TA) of the milk to rise from
0.15-0.17% to 0.20-0.22%.
6. Add rennet @ 25-30 ml per 100 litres milk and
form coagulum over 45-60 minutes.

( Continued )