Read on to know everything about processed cheese and natural cheese. Let us first understand what is natural cheese. Natural cheese is made of products using only simple and natural ingredients including fresh high quality milk , salt , enzymes and natural colors. Another term you may hear is a cheesemonger, but this technically refers to someone who sells cheese. With so many different varieties of cheese, of course, there are differences in the cheese-making process, depending on what cheese is being made.
However, all cheese making follows the same general process, especially when it comes to the earlier steps. The cheese-making process comes down to 10 essential steps. Since milk is the star of the show, to make cheese just right, you need your milk to be just right. This may involve manipulating the protein-to-fat ratio.
It also often involves pasteurization or a more mild heat treatment. Heating the milk kills organisms that could cause the cheese to spoil and can also prime the milk for the starter cultures to grow more effectively. The next step in the cheese-making process is adding starter cultures to acidify the milk.
However, there is any number of bacteria that can grow and sour milk. Instead of letting milk sour on its own, the modern cheese-making process typically standardizes this step. Cheesemakers add starter and non-starter cultures to the milk that acidify it.
The milk is still liquid milk at this point, so cheesemakers need to start manipulating the texture. The process of curdling the milk can also happen naturally. Cheesemakers cause the same process to take place in a controlled way. In the past, natural rennin was typically the enzyme of choice for curdling the milk, but cheesemakers today usually use rennet, the lab-created equivalent. Rennet inactivates the protein kappa casein , turning it into para-kappa-casein. The important thing to understand is simply that this reaction allows the milk to form coagulated lumps, known as curds.
As the solid curd forms, a liquid byproduct remains, known as whey. The curds and whey mixture is allowed to separate and ferment until the pH reaches 6. At this point, the curd should form a large coagulated mass in the cheese-making vat. Then, cheesemakers use long curd knives that can reach the bottom of the vat to cut through the curds. Cutting the curd creates more surface area on the curd, which allows the curds and why to separate even more.
Cheesemakers usually make crisscrossing cuts vertically, horizontally and diagonally to break up the curd. Larger chunks of curd retain more moisture, leading to a moisture cheese, and smaller pieces of curd can lead to a drier cheese. After being cut, the curd continues to be processed. This might involve cooking the curds, stirring the curds or both. All of this processing is still aimed at the same goal of separating the curds and whey.
In other words, the curds continue to acidify and release moisture as they are processed. The more the curds are cooked and stirred, the drier the cheese will be. Another way curd can be processed at this stage is through washing. Washing the curd means replacing whey with water.
This affects the flavor and texture of the cheese. Washed curd cheeses tend to be more elastic and have a nice, mild flavor. Some examples of washed curd cheeses are gouda, havarti and Swedish fontina.
This means draining the whey from the vat, leaving only the solid chunks of curd. These chunks could be big or small, depending on how finely the curd has been cut. With all the whey drained, the curd should now look like a big mat.
There are different means of draining whey. In some cases, cheesemakers allow it to drain off naturally. However, especially when it comes to harder cheeses that require a lower moisture content, cheesemakers are likely to get help from a mold or press. Putting pressure on the curd compacts and forces more whey out. With the whey drained, the curd should form a large slab. For some cheeses, another step remains to remove even more moisture from the curd.
This step is known as cheddaring. Its invention dates back to the end of the 19th century, when people wanted to find a way to store cheese longer.
The first attempts took place in Germany in with camembert cheese. However, Gerber undertook the first industrial manufacture of real processed cheese, Emmental-based, in Switzerland in No doubt all the observations and understanding of how things work gained during the development of famous Swiss cheese fondues enabled the processed cheese formula to be perfected.
The famous processed cheese triangle, individually wrapped in foil packaging, called La vache qui rit or The Laughing Cow, was born in Years later, in , the American company Kraft introduced Velveeta, its first processed cheese product, on the American and Canadian markets. From there, it was a short leap to developing individually wrapped processed cheese slices. Today, despite the fact that the sale of processed cheese products is on the decline in Canada, we still manage to consume a whopping 5.
Fortunately, we now have a wider, more refined selection. You can find processed cheese spreads made from cheeses such as Oka, Brie or Champfleury! Processed cheese products allow the cheese industry to rework cheese and present it in a different way.
By mixing cheeses you can obtain the exact same flavour profile for every batch. Instead, you mix in some ripened cheese to get some ripened cheese flavour. Ever looked at the storage conditions for processed cheese? Becuase of the pasteurization the heating process and composition they can often be kept out of the fridge. Thus, their shlef life is a lot longer. All in all, processed cheese allows producers to tweak cheeses to get the optimal desired properties of the cheese for their applications.
Should it melt well? Should it be firm to be grated or sliced on processing equipment? Now you know why that is. Michigan Dairy Review , on the history of processed cheese. Very extensive scientific article discussing various aspects of processed cheese.
I took me quite a lot of trouble to find the propper definitions and regulations for processed cheese, for those interested in reading more, have a look here:. Enter your email address below to subscribe to our weekly newsletter.
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