Flavor development by microbial lipases in pasteurized milk blue cheese
AssigneeCornell Research Foundation, Inc.
InventorsFrank V. Kosikowski, Ramesh C. Jolly
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method for producing blue cheese from pasteurized or heat treated milk, characterized by the addition to the cheese curds from which the whey has been drained, of a mixture of lipase, a Penicillium mold spore species, and salt. The Penicillium species may include Penicillium roqueforti or Penicillium glaucum, and the lipase is preferably a microbial lipase formed from Aspergilli ssp., Penicillium ssp. or Rhizopus ssp., or suitable animal lipase sources. The resultant cheese product is imparted with the appropriate blue cheese flavor with required rancidity in a greatly shortened period of time (i.e., about 2 to 4 months).
Claims7
The method for producing blue cheese from pasteurized or heat-treated milk, which comprises in the recited sequence the steps of
- a. preparing loose cheese curds from said milk;
- b. introducing into the loose curds a mixture, by weight of curd, of:
- 1. a food grade lipase selected from the group consisting of food grade microbial lipase and animal lipase, and
- 2. Penicillium species mold spores, the amounts of lipase and Penicillium mold spores being sufficient to substantially reduce the time required for curing of the cheese while obtaining optimum cheese flavor characteristics to the resultant product;
- and
- c. incubating the resultant product from step (b) at high relative humidity to permit the outgrowth of mold spores and activity of the added lipase, whereby a highly flavored blue cheese product is obtained.
The method for producing blue cheese from pasteurized or heat-treated milk, which comprises in the recited sequence the steps of
- a. preparing loose cheese curds from said milk;
- b. introducing into the loose curds a mixture, by weight of curd, of:
- 1. a food grade lipase selected from the group consisting of food grade microbial lipase and animal lipase, 5-30 g/100 kg curd, and
- 2. mold spores selected from the group consisting of Penicillium roqueforti, Penicillium glaucum, or related species, 60-70 g/100 kg curd;
- and
- 3. sodium chloride, about 2 kg/100 kg curd, to obtain a salted cheese product;
- and
- c. incubating the resultant salted cheese product from step (b) at 50.degree.-60.degree.F at high relative humidity to permit the outgrowth of mold spores and activity of the added lipase, whereby a highly flavored blue cheese product is obtained.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.