Cheese and methods of making such cheese
AssigneeLeprino Foods Company
InventorsRichard K. Merrill, Mayank Singh
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Methods for preparing cheese are provided that involve combining a slurry with a cheese precursor to form an admixture that is subsequently processed to form the cheese product. The slurry typically includes a liquid such as water, milk and/or cream and one or more ingredients that are useful for inclusion in the final cheese product. Systems for preparing such slurries and cheese products are also provided.
Claims13
A soft or firm/semi-hard cheese manufacturing system, comprising:
- (a) a slurry preparation system to prepare the slurry in the absence of a heated mass of soft or firm/semi-hard cheese comprising (i) a blender adapted to blend a liquid and one or more generally recognized as safe (GRAS) ingredients together to form a slurry, wherein the blender does not substantially alter a size of the GRAS ingredients which are solid before they contact the liquid, and (ii) a cooker that is operatively disposed to receive the slurry from the blender and adapted to heat the slurry to a temperature of about 90° F. to about 300° F.;
- (b) a first mixer operatively disposed to receive the slurry from the slurry preparation system and adapted to mix the slurry with the heated mass of soft or firm/semi-hard cheese to form an admixture;
- and
- (c) a final processing system operatively disposed to receive the admixture and adapted to form a final cheese product.
A system for preparing a slurry in the absence of a cheese precursor before being admixed with the cheese precursor, the system comprising:
- a) a blender adapted for preparing a slurry, the slurry comprising water and one or more generally recognized as safe (GRAS) ingredients, wherein the blender does not substantially alter a size of the GRAS ingredients which are solid before they contact the water;
- b) a cooker adapted to heat the slurry to a temperature of about 90° F. to about 300° F.;
- and
- c) a slurry mixing and moisture control subsystem that comprises one or more of the following units
- (i) a shear pump adapted to subject the slurry to high shear conditions;
- (ii) a homomgenizer adapted to mix the water and the one or more ingredients in the slurry;
- and
- (iii) an evaporator unit adapted to adjust the water content of the slurry to about 5-95% by weight, wherein
- the units of the subsystem are in fluid communication and the blender, heater and slurry mixing and control subsystem are in fluid communication.
A method for preparing a soft or firm/semi-hard cheese, comprising:
- (a) providing a cheese manufacturing system that comprises
- (i) a slurry preparation system to prepare the slurry in the absence of a heated mass of cheese comprising a blender, and a cooker operatively disposed to receive a slurry from the blender;
- (ii) a first mixer operatively disposed to receive the slurry from the slurry preparation system and form an admixture;
- and
- (iii) a final processing system operatively disposed to receive the admixture and adapted to form a final cheese product;
- (b) introducing a liquid and one or more ingredients into the blender;
- (c) blending the liquid and the one or more ingredients together to form the slurry, wherein the blender does not substantially alter a size of the ingredients which are solid before they contact the liquid;
- (d) transporting the slurry from the blender to the cooker and cooking the slurry to a temperature of about 90° F. to about 300° F.;
- (e) moving the slurry from the cooker to the mixer and combining the slurry with the heated mass of cheese to form the admixture;
- and
- (f) transferring the admixture to the final processing system and processing the admixture to form the soft or firm/semi-hard cheese product.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.