Legislation
From the legislative point of view, the name cheese or cacio is reserved for the food product obtained from whole milk, partially skimmed or skimmed, or from the cream, following acid or rennet coagulation, also making use of enzymes and sodium chloride .
It can be seen that the law does not specify the origin of the milk to be used; we can therefore produce cheeses with milks of different origins, provided they are rich in caseins, since the coagulation - acid or rennet - of these proteins is essential for this purpose; among the casein milk, we remember that of cow, buffalo and goat, which can also be used in a mixture of them.
The chemical composition of the cheese depends on numerous factors, such as the milk and microbial flora used, the processing procedures, as well as the degree and the seasoning environment.
OVERVIEW OF CHEESE
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In the video, our personal Cooker Alice brilliantly illustrates the main production phases of the cheese, explaining the technical and practical aspects. Following his advice, the reader will learn how to prepare excellent cheeses in complete autonomy. Good vision!
Cheese - how to prepare it at home
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The production phases that we are going to illustrate are the same for all types of cheese; what changes is only the way in which they are conducted.
Following the coagulation the so-called curd is formed, that is a three-dimensional gelatinous lattice between whose meshes the globules of fat and, naturally, droplets of serum (buttermilk) are trapped, in which sugars (lactose) and mineral salts are dissolved; this serum must be removed as much as possible from the curd, which for this reason is broken, facilitating the purge of the serum and consequently increasing the storage time of the cheese.
Once the curd is broken, for cooked cheeses we proceed with cooking, while for raw cheeses we extract directly; this phase consists in removing the gelatinous mass (curd) from the rest of the serum; this mass must then be put into shape, treated superficially with salting and subjected to a period of maturation and seasoning (more or less long depending on the type of cheese).
In the serum, after the curd is extracted, a part of lipid globules remains (which make it suitable for the preparation of butter), in addition to mineral salts, vitamins, part of the lactose and all the water-soluble components; above all, whey proteins remain, which do not coagulate either by acidification or by the action of enzymes, but only by heat. By heating this serum we will then obtain one of the leanest, healthiest and most nutritious "cheeses" called ricotta.
Let's examine in detail the different stages of cheese production
Milk preparation
Once milked, the milk must be immediately refrigerated and used within two days. Similarly to what happens in the preparation of butter and yogurt, also in this case the lipid phase must be standardized; in fact, the law requires that the lipid content of the starting milk is not less than 3.3-3.4% for fat cheeses, while 2.5% is sufficient for semi-fat cheeses. The lipid content of the milk can therefore be increased by adding cream or reduced through the skimming process.
At this point a heat treatment is carried out, which in most cases is pasteurization, which is mandatory for fresh cheeses but not for seasoned ones, since the particular seasoning conditions (humidity, pH and lactic bacteria) prevent the growth of a flora pathogenic microbial. Pasteurization is done at a temperature of 60-65 ° C for 30-40 minutes (low pasteurization) or at 70 ° C for 10-15 seconds (rapid pasteurization). In any case, they should never exceed 75 ° C, a threshold beyond which there would be denaturation of proteins and the loss of their ability to curdle.
The next step involves the addition to the milk of standardized microbial grafts (starters) based on lactic acid bacteria, both flavoring and acidifying. These are similar to those used for the preparation of yogurt and butter: Streptococcus lactis, S. cremoris, S.termophilus, Lactobacillus bulgaricus, L. casei, L. helveticus .
In addition to lactic acid bacteria, for certain types of cheese other categories of microorganisms can be added, in particular molds, obtaining blue cheeses (gorgonzola, roquefort). In this case, mold spores are added: Penicilluim roqueforti and P. glaucum .
The law also allows the addition of natural dyes, such as annatto and saffron; these are rather expensive plant extracts, which are little used in the cheese industry.
Before being subjected to curdling, the milk must be matured for some time, thus leaving the acidifying bacteria time to multiply and act, giving it the desired pH.
These preparatory phases are followed by the most important phase of the cheese production process, namely the preparation of the curd, which can be acidic or rennet.
