cheese starter

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 cheese starter ,The use of starter cultures (often simply called starters) containing lactic acid bacteria (LAB) is an essential requirement in the manufacture of most cheeses.

These cultures are called starters because they initiate or 'start' the production of lactic acid, their primary purpose in cheese manufacture. Acid production, combined with heating and stirring of the curd/whey mixture, causes the casein curd to synerese and expel moisture (whey) from the coagulum to produce a product-cheese-with a much lower water content (87% down to 35-60%), a lower pH (6·6 down to 4·6-5·2), and consequently a much longer shelf-life than milk. Acid production during cheese manufacture has other effects besides gel syneresis, e.g. it affects the activity, denaturation and retention of the coagulant in the cheese, curd strength, the extent of dissolution of colloidal calcium phosphate and inhibits the growth of many species of pathogenic and defect-producing bacteria.

 

What types of starter culture are available?

 

The use of starter cultures in cheese-making has carried out for hundreds of years. In recent years, however, with advancing scientific knowledge, technicians became adept at selecting and breeding certain strains, creating preparations and blends of bacteria designed specifically to help acidify the milk give different flavors and acidifying rates.

 

Broadly they are characterized into two types:

 

-          Mesophiles, which are used to make most cheeses. They perform best at temperatures between 20-30°C

 

-          Thermophiles, which are used mainly to make continental cheeses that are supple and sweeter in flavor (Gruyère, Comté, etc.) and perform best at hotter temperatures, between 45-50°C.

 

The choice of culture depends on the cheese being made, e.g. mesophilic cultures are used in the production of Cheddar, Gouda, Edam, Blue and Camembert, while thermophilic cultures are used for Swiss and Italian varieties. This choice is related to the method of manufacture since Swiss and Italian cheese are cooked to much higher temperatures (50-55°C) which the starter bacteria must be capable of withstanding. More information is available on mesophilic than on thermophilic cultures, which probably reflects the greater amounts of cheese made with mesophilic cultures. The main species involved include Lactococcus lactis, Leuconostoc species, Streptococcus thermophilus, Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. lactis, L. delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus, and L. helveticus but not all of them are used in every cheese variety. The first two organisms are used in most cheese varieties while the latter are used in cheeses like Emmental and Parmigiano Reggiano and Pizza/Mozzarella cheese, which are heated to a high temperature during manufacture. In many artisanal cheeses, especially those produced in Mediterranean countries, other LAB, including Lb. casei, Lb. plantarum, Ec. faecalis, Ec faecium, Lb. salivarius, and Staphylococcus species are also found. Other microorganisms are also used in cheesemaking—for example: Propionibacterium freudenreichii, Brevibacterium linens, Debaryomyces hansenii, Geotrichum candidum, Penicillium roqueforti and P. camemberti .These microorganisms (bacteria, yeasts, and filamentous fungi) have no function in acid production during manufacture: their major role is to produce organoleptic and biochemical changes in or on the cheese during ripening.

 

These starters are commonly added to the vat by one of two methods:

 

-          DVI starters:

 

Cheese-making starter culture Direct to Vat Inoculation. These are sachets of freeze-dried LAB powder which are stored in the freezer and can be simply sprinkled straight onto the milk in the cheese-making vat. They are easy to use, easy to store, quick, consistent and convenient, and consequently favored by many producers. But some argue they are too simplified and the resulting flavor is not as rich or complex.

 

-          Bulk Starters: 

 A slightly more traditional method, these are cultures that were obtained from farms and are now kept alive and managed by different laboratories throughout Europe. Being a living product, they are more difficult to handle for the cheese-maker, requiring further ‘incubation’ and ‘bulking’, so they are already working when they are added to the milk in the vat. Yet in-turn they can produce a more complex flavor but is more fiddly, difficult to control, and time-consuming.

 

 

Reference:

 

-          Parente, Eugenio & Cogan, Timothy. (2004). Starter cultures: General aspects. Cheese: Chemistry, Physics and Microbiology. 1. 10.1016/S1874-558X(04)80065-4.

 

-          Cogan T.M., Hill C. (1993) Cheese Starter Cultures. In: Fox P.F. (eds) Cheese: Chemistry,

 

-          Physics and Microbiology. Springer, Boston, MA

 

-        https://www.thecourtyarddairy.co.uk/blog/making-ageing-cheese/what-is-starter-culture-for-cheese-and-what-does-it-do/

 

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