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Culturing
Appears in
By Jaclyn Pestka, Wayne Gisslen and Lou Sackett
Published 2010
Most modern cheeses begin when the milk is cultured. This process is virtually the same as in the production of fermented dairy products, but the specific cultures used are different. The cheese maker heats the milk to a temperature ranging from 80° to 90°F (21° to 32°C) and adds a selected laboratory dairy culture to begin fermentation.
The acid that results from culturing begins the coagulation and curdling processes. Thus, the culturing process is sometimes called acidification. As the bacterial culture does its work, the milk begins to coagulate, gradually thickening into a custard-like mass called clabber. The amount of time needed for culturing ranges from less than an hour to several days, depending on the type of culture and the result the cheese maker desires.