Method of making cheese

A method of manufacturing cheese from curd, the method comprising:

• filling the curd into a container having a removable bottom, side walls, and an essentially open top, and having a plurality of upstanding perforated tapered posts secured to and extending and tapering from the bottom to substantially a desired height of the curd after compacting, the upstanding perforated tapered posts being essentially uniformly distributed within the container and being spaced longitudinally and laterally from one another and from the sidewalls of the container along their entire height such that the curd completely surrounds the upstanding perforated tapered posts as the container is filled, each of said tapered posts having an essentially diamond-shaped cross-section in which the cross-sectional length is substantially greater than the cross-sectional width;
• inserting a pressure plate into the top of the container over the curd, applying pressure downwardly to the pressure plate and hence to the curd in the container substantially parallel to the longitudinal axes of the posts to compact the curd and to cause draining through the upstanding perforated tapered posts through openings in the bottom to whey collecting means beneath said posts;
• continuing such downward pressure until the under surface of the pressure plate is slightly spaced from the tops of the tapered posts so that draining of the whey is accomplished without the need of inserting probes from above;
• inverting the container with the compacted curd therein;
• withdrawing the bottom and the inverted upstanding perforated posts secured thereto from the curd, and
• applying pressure downwardly to the curd to cause substantial closing of the downwardly extending essentially diamond shaped openings produced as a result of withdrawing the inverted upstanding perforated posts to permit knitting together of the curd to provide a cheese block of uniform texture.