how is cheese made?

Answer 1

Making cheese

Curdling
The only strictly required step in making any sort of cheese is separating the milk into solid curds and liquid whey. Usually this is done by acidifying the milk and adding rennet. The acidification is accomplished directly by the addition of an acid like vinegar in a few cases (paneer, queso fresco), but usually starter bacteria are employed instead. These starter bacteria convert milk sugars into lactic acid. The same bacteria (and the enzymes they produce) also play a large role in the eventual flavor of aged cheeses. Most cheeses are made with starter bacteria from the Lactococci, Lactobacilli, or Streptococci families. Swiss starter cultures also include Propionibacter shermani, which produces carbon dioxide gas bubbles during aging, giving Swiss cheese or Emmental its holes.

Some fresh cheeses are curdled only by acidity, but most cheeses also use rennet. Rennet sets the cheese into a strong and rubbery gel compared to the fragile curds produced by acidic coagulation alone. It also allows curdling at a lower acidity—important because flavor-making bacteria are inhibited in high-acidity environments. In general, softer, smaller, fresher cheeses are curdled with a greater proportion of acid to rennet than harder, larger, longer-aged varieties.


Curd processing

During industrial production of Emmental cheese, the as-yet-undrained curd is broken up by rotating mixers.At this point, the cheese has set into a very moist gel. Some soft cheeses are now essentially complete: they are drained, salted, and packaged. For most of the rest, the curd is cut into small cubes. This allows water to drain from the individual pieces of curd.

Some hard cheeses are then heated to temperatures in the range of 35°C–55°C (100°F–130°F). This forces more whey from the cut curd. It also changes the taste of the finished cheese, affecting both the bacterial culture and the milk chemistry. Cheeses that are heated to the higher temperatures are usually made with thermophilic starter bacteria which survive this step—either lactobacilli or streptococci.

Salt has a number of roles in cheese besides adding a salty flavor. It preserves cheese from spoiling, draws moisture from the curd, and firms up a cheese’s texture in an interaction with its proteins. Some cheeses are salted from the outside with dry salt or brine washes. Most cheeses have the salt mixed directly into the curds.

A number of other techniques can be employed to influence the cheese's final texture and flavor. Some examples:

Stretching: (Mozzarella, Provolone) The curd is stretched and kneaded in hot water, developing a stringy, fibrous body.
Cheddaring: (Cheddar, other English cheeses) The cut curd is repeatedly piled up, pushing more moisture away. The curd is also mixed (or milled) for a long period of time, taking the sharp edges off the cut curd pieces and influencing the final product's texture.
Washing: (Edam, Gouda, Colby) The curd is washed in warm water, lowering its acidity and making for a milder-tasting cheese.
Most cheeses achieve their final shape when the curds are pressed into a mold or form. The harder the cheese, the more pressure is applied. The pressure drives out moisture — the molds are designed to allow water to escape — and unifies the curds into a single solid body.


Aging

A newborn cheese is usually salty yet bland in flavor and, for harder varieties, rubbery in texture. These qualities are sometimes enjoyed—cheese curds are eaten on their own—but usually cheeses are left to rest under carefully controlled conditions. This aging period (also called ripening, or, from the French, affinage) can last from a few days to several years. As a cheese ages, microbes and enzymes transform its texture and intensify its flavor. This transformation is largely a result of the breakdown of casein proteins and milkfat into a complex mix of amino acids, amines, and fatty acids.


Vacherin du Haut-Doubs cheese, a French cheese with a white Penicillium mold rind.Some cheeses have additional bacteria or molds intentionally introduced to them before or during aging. In traditional cheesemaking, these microbes might be already present in the air of the aging room; they are simply allowed to settle and grow on the stored cheeses. More often today, prepared cultures are used, giving more consistent results and putting fewer constraints on the environment where the cheese ages.

For the blue cheeses (Roquefort, Stilton, Gorgonzola), Penicillium mold is introduced to the curd before molding. During aging, the blue molds (P. roqueforti or P. glaucum ) grow in the small fissures in the cheese, imparting a sharp flavor and aroma. The same molds are also grown on the surface of some aged goat cheeses. The soft cheeses Brie and Camembert, among others, get a surface growth of other Penicillium species, white-colored P. candidum or P. camemberti. The surface mold contributes to the interior texture and flavor of these small cheeses.

Some cheeses are periodically washed in a saltwater brine during their ripening. Not only does the brine carry flavors into the cheese (it might be seasoned with spices or wine), but the salty environment may nurture the growth of the Brevibacterium linens bacteria, which can impart a very pronounced odor (Limburger) and interesting flavor. The same bacteria can also have some impact on cheeses that are simply ripened in humid conditions, like Camembert. Large populations of these "smear bacteria" show up as a sticky orange-red layer on some brine-washed cheeses.

Answer 2

Mmm...cheese.

Starter Culture
About 2 cups of fresh milk is left to sit at room temperature for 24 hours until it curdles to the consistency of yogurt.

Prepare Milk
2 gallons of milk is warmed to 86°F and the starter culture is blended in. This mixture is left overnight at a temperature of 50-60°F which will form lactic acid.

Rennet
Rennet contains a milk-coagulating enzyme and is traditionally made from the inner lining of a calf's stomach. Rennet is added to the milk to begin the formation of curd which, takes about 1 hour.

Curds
The curd is then cut into small squares and stirred by hand. The curds(solids) and whey(liquid) are then slowly warmed to 102°F until the curd will hold its shape.

Cheese Cloth
The curds are then separated from the whey by draining through cheese cloth. The curds are salted, mixed, and hung for an hour.

Shaping and Drying
The firming curd can then be shaped into a round wheel form and pressed overnight. It is then left to dry a few days as a rind starts to form.

Waxing and Curing
The entire wheel of cheese is sealed in paraffin wax and left to cure at 40-60°F. After 6 weeks of curing, the cheese will be firm and have a mild flavor. Sharp cheese requires 3-5 months of curing.

Answer 3

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Answer 4

from milk that came from cows living happier lives in California.