Snack-Type Dry Cheese or Dairy Foodstuff and its Process of Manufacture

Process for the manufacture of a dry cheese or dairy foodstuff comprising the following stages:

• a) Freezing a cheese or a dairy mixture down to a temperature of less than or equal to −20° C.;
• the said cheese or the said dairy mixture has a fat content of less than or equal to 40% by weight and is prepared beforehand in slices having a thickness of less than or equal to 4 mm;
• b) Placing the said frozen cheese or the said frozen dairy mixture under vacuum at a pressure of between 0.1 and 100 mbar;
• c) Heating the said frozen cheese or the said frozen dairy mixture under vacuum in two phases;
• c1) Phase 1:
• rapid increase in the temperature of the said cheese or of the said dairy mixture up to a temperature of the order of 110-120° C., in 0.2 to 2 hours, at a pressure of between 0.1 and 100 mbar and a water vapour extraction stream of 0.4 to 10 kg of water per kg of product and per hour;
• and
• c2) Optionally, phase 2:
• cooking at a temperature of between 60 and 160° C., at a pressure of between 0.1 and 100 mbar and from 5 to 60 minutes;
• d) Cooling under vacuum, at a pressure of between 0.1 and 100 mbar, down to a temperature of between ambient temperature (15-20° C.) and 80° C. at a rate of decrease of the temperature of between 50 and 70° C. per hour;
• e) Pressurizing by compensation of the vacuum with a dry gas, that is to say a gas having a moisture content of less than 3 ppm.