Basic principles of cheese production: from historical to salting

Abstract

The art of transforming the milk in cheese is very old and it is constituted basically in a process of concentration of the milk in which part of the solid components, mainly protein and fat, are concentrated in the curd, while the whey proteins, lactose and soluble solids, are removed in the whey. The cheese yield and its centesimal composi tion are determined by the milk properties, especially by the milk composition and the process production steps. The importance of the milk compos ition is associated to the enzymatic coagulation, f irmness of the curd, syneresis and texture of the cheese. Several steps or groups of steps are involved in the conversion of the milk in cheese, of which the main ones are: coagulation, acidification, syneresis of the curd, molding and shaping and salting. Intervening in those proces s steps the cheesemaker can control the cheese composition that will have a directly influence on its ripening and final quality. This article presents a short review of the basic principles of cheese technology.