Advertisement
Fermented Dairy Products
Appears in
By Ole Mouritsen and Klavs Styrbæk
Published 2017
The large selection of fermented dairy products found in most supermarkets is a testament to the broad spectrum of textures that can be produced in processed milk. Most are creamy, some are grainy; others feel a bit dry; and still others fall apart easily and are semifirm and jellylike.
There are three principal ways to make sour dairy products. One consists of warming or souring milk or cream, resulting in such products as crème fraîche, cream cheese, and cottage cheese. The second way is to add rennet to the milk to make fresh cheese, which can serve as the starting point for fermentation and aging of myriad other cheeses. The third method makes use of a variety of microorganisms, especially lactic acid bacteria and certain fungi, to ferment milk and convert the lactose to lactic acid and other substances. Products made this way include yogurt, kefir, Icelandic skyr, and the Middle Eastern labneh and doogh.