Improved cheese ripening

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for providing a naturally ripened, block-shaped cheese of the hard or semi-hard type, comprising the steps of: (i) forming a block-shaped cheese from a curd by conventional means; (ii) applying a protective water-permeable coating layer onto the entire surface of the cheese, thereby obtaining a coated cheese; (iii) partially covering the coated cheese with a layer of a water-impermeable material thereby obtaining a partially covered coated cheese; and (iv) allowing the partially covered coated cheese to further ripen, wherein the block-shaped cheese comprises a top face, a bottom face and four faces that form the circumference of the block-shaped cheese, and wherein in step (iii) each of the four faces that form the circumference of the block-shaped cheese are at least partly covered with the layer of the water-impermeable material while leaving the top face and bottom face completely uncovered.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.