Process for making cheese

A method of making cheese, comprising:

• pasteurizing and acidifying one or more dairy components to obtain a cheese dairy product;
• coagulating the cheese dairy product to form a coagulum comprising curd and whey;
• cutting the coagulum and removing the whey thereby leaving the curd;
• heating the curd using steam and kneading the curd to produce a fiberous mass;
• the coagulating, cutting, heating and kneading steps being performed without intermediate freezing, cold storage or packing;
• before or during heating, adding to the curd or to the fiberous mass an extender, the extender comprising at least one source of fat;
• extruding the fiberous mass as a continuous rope;
• cutting the continuous rope into fiberous mass sections;
• cooling the fiberous mass sections in brine;
• and
• processing the cooled fiberous mass sections to produce a cheese product.

A method of making cheese, comprising:

• pasteurizing and acidifying one or more dairy components to obtain a cheese dairy product;
• coagulating the cheese dairy product to form a coagulum comprising curd and whey;
• cutting the coagulum and removing the whey thereby leaving the curd;
• heating the curd using steam and kneading the curd to produce a fiberous mass;
• the coagulating, cutting, heating and kneading steps being performed without intermediate freezing, cold storage or packing;
• before or during heating, adding to the curd or to the fiberous mass an extender, the extender comprising at least one source of fat;
• extruding the fiberous mass as a continuous rope having a unidirectional protein structure orientation;
• cutting the continuous rope into fiberous mass sections;
• cooling the fiberous mass sections in brine;
• processing the cooled fiberous mass sections to produce a cheese product;
• aligning a blade of a cutting mechanism with the direction of the protein structure of the fiberous mass;
• and
• cutting the cheese product parallel to the direction of the protein structure.