Cheese and Yoghurt Making

Products used in cheesemaking
Starters
Mould Spores
Lipase
Calcium Solution
Cheese Wax

Plastic Cheese Coating
Thermometer
Cheese Cloth
Rennet

The following information was extracted from the book "HOME CHEESEMAKING" by Neil and Carole Willman

 

Starters:
A starter is not rennet or junket but a specially selected bacteria. Starters are chosen because they possess certain characteristics which are of value to cheesemaking. These characteristics can include such things as acid production, enzyme production, flavour component production or gas production (carbon dioxide). Some starters have one of these characteristics, while others have more than one. Starters are very tiny. In one millilitre of liquid starter there are about 200,000,000 (two hundred million) living starter organisms.

 

Starters are mainly used for acid production. Many years ago naturally occurring bacteria in the milk were used, however their numbers are inconsistent and many of the bacteria in raw milk are spoilage organisms. The quality of cheeses made from raw milk will be quite variable. Pasteurisation kills many of the desirable bacteria in raw milk and hence the need to add starters to replace them. Acid production is necessary in the making of cheese, as the acid helps the curd to form and shrink, as well as preventing the growth of spoilage bacteria and determining the characteristics of the cheese. 

 

Mould Spores:
Mould spores are sometimes used in the manufacture of cheese. These are available in two categories; Blue mould spores (Penicillium roqueforti) and White mould spores (Penicillium candidum). Blue mould spores are used for making Blue Vein, Roquefort, Stilton and Gorgonzola cheeses. White mould spores are used for making Camembert and Brie.
Others Other organisms can be used in the making of other cheese types. These include a bacteria (Propionibacterium shermanii) added to the milk to provide extra gas production to form the eyes in Swiss cheese, and a bacterial culture used for rubbing on the surface of cheeses such as Tilsit and Havarti(Brevibacterium linens). 

 

Lipase:
Lipase is an enzyme (protein material) which has the function of breaking down the fats of the milk or cheese. Cheeses which use lipase during their manufacture are Fetta, Romano, Pecorino, Parmesan, and many others. 

 

Calcium Solution:
Calcium chloride solution is used to assist cheesemakers when milk is calcium deficient. It assists the milk coagulation process for rennet set cheeses.

 

Cheese Wax:
Cheesewax provides a suitable moisture barrier on the cheese to prevent rapid drying. They are a mixture of microcrystalline wax and parrafin. Hard cheeses that are going to be stored for more than one month will dry out and crack if not protected. They may also become mouldy and inedible. These cheeses may be waxed before maturing to prevent them from drying out. The waxing will be more successful if you apply a plastic cheese coating to the cheese first. This gives the wax a fat free and moisture free surface on which to adhere. Better results are obtained when a plastic cheese coating is applied first. 

 

Plastic Cheese Coating:
The plastic coating is a PVA emulsion specially designed for use on cheese. Two coats of plastic cheese coating are normally applied by brushing with a small paint brush, or rubbing the coating on with a coarse sponge.

 

Thermometer:
It is important to have a good accurate thermometer for cheese and yoghurt making. A thermometer with a scale of -10 to 110°C with graduations at 1°C intervals is usually satisfactory

 

Cheese Cloth:
The cheese cloth is also known as cheese bandage. It is applied to rinded cheese to assist in the development of a good rind. The cloth stays on the cheese during storage. 

 

Rennet:
Rennet may be from animal or vegetative sources. Traditionally calf rennet was used, but vegetative alternatives are now common. Vegetative rennets are made from fungal origin with Mucor mehei being the most commonly used.

 

Genetic engineering techniques some 'vegetarian' cheeses made using chymosin by genetically engineered microorganisms. The genetic material (DNA) which enables chymosin replication is placed into a microorganism which is then cultured producing chymosin. This chymosin is identical to that found in calf rennet. The organisms used to produce GE Chymosin are either a yeast, Kluyveromyces lactis, or a bacteria Escherichia coli.

 

Rennet is an enzyme which reacts with the protein in the milk to coagulate the milk. It is therefore added to the milk to turn it from the liquid state to a solid state. The active enzyme in calf rennet is known as Chymosin.

 

When using rennet always dilute it in 10 times its volume of cool boiled water. If you don't do this you will find that your rennet has started working before you have mixed it in properly, giving a very uneven curd. Be sure that the water you are using is not hot or it will adversely affect the activity of you rennet. Do not sanitise rennet measuring utensils with sodium hypochlorite. Sodium hypochlorite will adversely affect the activity of your rennet. You will need to rinse these utensils with boiling water.

Hard cheeses cannot be made without rennet. Hard cheeses claiming to be rennet free are more correctly 'animal rennet' free. These cheeses are made from microbially produced chymosin, which is classed as fermented or vegetarian rennet.

 

For more information about cheese and rennet click here

The above information was extracted from the book "HOME CHEESEMAKING" by Neil and Carole Willman