Method for preparing a cheese product

A method for preparing a cheese product comprising the steps of:

• preparing a culture medium by combining:
• whole milk in an amount ranging from about 50 to about 94 wt. %, based on the weight of the culture medium;
• at least one food grade polyanionic gum in an amount ranging from about 0.2 to about 1 wt. %, based on the weight of the culture medium;
• and optionally water in an amount up to about 45 wt. %, based on the weight of the culture medium;
• pasteurizing the culture medium;
• cooling the pasteurized culture medium to a temperature suitable for the growth of acid-producing bacteria;
• inoculating the culture medium with at least one acid-producing bacteria;
• developing and then cooling the thus formed mixture, to form a cultured mixture;
• forming cultured milk by mixing the cultured mixture with skim or low fat milk having a butterfat content less than about 2 wt. %;
• ripening the cultured milk;
• adding sufficient rennet to the ripened milk to form a coagulum;
• cutting the coagulum to form curd in a whey solution;
• cooking the curd while in the whey solution;
• transferring the curd in the whey solution to a means for draining the whey solution and then draining the whey solution from the curd;
• salting the curd;
• and further processing the salted curd to produce a cheese product.

A method for preparing a cheese product comprising the steps of:

• preparing a culture medium by combining:
• whole milk in an amount ranging from about 50 to about 94 wt. %, based on the weight of the culture medium;
• at least one food grade polyanionic gum in an amount ranging from about 0.2 to about 1 wt. %, based on the weight of the culture medium, wherein the at least one food grade polyanionic gum is selected from the group consisting of agar, xanthan, alginate, guar, carrageenan, and cellulose gels;
• and optionally water in an amount up to about 45 wt. %, based on the weight of the culture medium;
• pasteurizing the culture medium;
• cooling the pasteurized culture medium to a temperature suitable for the growth of acid-producing bacteria;
• inoculating the culture medium with at least one acid-producing bacteria selected from the group consisting of S. cremoris, S. lactis, S. citrovorous, S. paracitrovorus, S. thermophillus, S. durans, S. diacetilactis, S. faecalis, L. acidophilus, L. bulgaricus, L. brevis, L. casei, L. delbruekii, L. fermenti, L. heleveticus, L. lactis, L. plantarum, L. thermophillus, leuconsostoc eitrovorum, leuconsostoc mesenteroides, Bacteriumlinesn, Micrococcus caseolyticus, Pediococcus cerevisiae, Pseudomonas fraga and propionibacterium species;
• developing and then cooling the thus formed mixture, to form a cultured mixture having a pH of from about 4.6 to about 4.8;
• forming cultured milk by mixing the cultured mixture with skim or low fat milk having a butterfat content less than about 2%, wherein the skim or low fat milk is present in an amount ranging from about 3 to about 8 wt. % based on the weight of the cultured milk;
• ripening the cultured milk;
• adding sufficient rennet to the ripened milk to form a coagulum;
• cutting the coagulum to form curd in a whey solution;
• cooking the curd while in the whey solution;
• transferring the curd in the whey solution to a means for draining the whey solution and then draining the whey solution from the curd;
• salting the curd;
• and
• further processing the salted curd to produce a cheese product.

A method for preparing a cheese product comprising the steps of:

• preparing a culture medium by combining:
• from about 55 to about 65 wt. % whole milk, based on the weight of the culture medium, the whole milk having a butterfat content of from about 3.0 to about 4.5 wt. %, based on the weight of the whole milk,
• from about 35 to about 45 wt. % water, based on the weight of the culture medium,
• from about 0.3 to about 0.5 wt. %, based on the weight of the culture medium, of at least one food grade, polyanionic gum selected from the group comprising agar, xanthan, alginate, guar, carrageenan, and cellulose gels;
• from about 2 to about 3 wt. %, based on the weight of the culture medium, of a modified food starch;
• from about 0.25 to about 0.5 wt. %, based on the weight of the culture medium, of at least one emulsifying salt selected from sodium citrate, sodium phosphate, dipotassium phosphate or mixtures thereof;
• and
• from about 2 to about 3 wt. %, based on the weight of the culture medium, of at least one nutrient source for lactic acid-producing bacteria selected from yeast extract, yeast autolysate, solubilized yeast, food yeast, enzyme hydrolyzed casein, sodium phosphates, magnesium sulphate or mixtures thereof;
• pasteurizing the culture medium;
• cooling the pasteurized culture medium to a temperature suitable for the growth of acid-producing bacteria;
• inoculating the culture medium with at least one acid-producing bacteria selected from the group consisting of S. cremoris, S. lactis, S. citrovorous, S. paracitrovorus, S. thermophillus, S. durans, S. diacetilactis, S. faecalis, L. acidophilus, L. bulgaricus, L. brevis, L. casei, L. delbruekii, L. fermenti, L. heleveticus, L. lactis, L. plantarum, L. thermophillus, leuconsostoc eitrovorum, leuconsostoc mesenteroides, Bacteriumlinesn, Micrococcus caseolyticus, Pediococcus cerevisiae, Pseudomonas fraga and propionibacterium species;
• developing and then cooling the thus formed mixture to form a cultured mixture having a pH of from about 4.8 to about 4.6;
• forming cultured milk by mixing from about 5 to about 7 wt. % milk, based on the weight of the cultured milk, with skim or low fat milk having a butterfat content less than 2%;
• ripening the cultured milk;
• adding sufficient rennet to the ripened milk to form a coagulum;
• cutting the coagulum to form curd in a whey solution;
• cooking the curd while in the whey solution;
• drawing up to about 35 wt. % of the whey solution;
• transferring the curd and the remaining whey solution to a means for draining the whey solution;
• and
• thereafter draining the remaining whey solution from the curd;
• salting the curd, when the curd has a pH of at least about 5.6;
• and
• further processing the salted curd to produce a cheese product.