How does cheese get its flavour

The starter culture break up the lactose and eat the glucose and turn it into lactic acid. This concept was introduced in a previous post. Think of really old cheddar, it is really acidic or "sharp". There are three long chains called fatty acids, connected to a glycerol molecule. What's important here is that when those intact chains are connected, we don't taste much. Lipolysis is the breakdown of milkfat into free fatty acids Enzymes called lipases clip off those fatty acids, and they become free fatty acids.

This process is called lipolysis. These fatty acids now have taste and aroma, yay! A really short fatty acid is called butyric acid and that is the hallmark of so-called "rancid" flavor, which is found in cheeses like provolone and feta. Medium length fatty acids are partly responsible for goat-like flavor found in goat cheeses.

Longer fatty acids taste soapy, so think of cheeses like Romano. Do you see how I drastically oversimplified things and attributed flavors to a single class of compounds? Cheese, as mentioned in other posts , is made up of mostly casein protein. All that protein can breakdown into other compounds that generate flavor. Proteolysis is a catch-all term used to describe reactions involving protein breakdown. Proteolysis is the breakdown of protein Residual rennet could break off big chunks of the casein, and form what we call peptides.

As cheese ages, microbes and enzymes break down the casein proteins, changing the texture and intensifying the flavour of the cheese. Ripening conditions are carefully controlled with different temperatures and humidity levels affecting the rate of ripening, loss of moisture and rind formation. The ripening period can be anything from several days to 2 or more years.

As the ripening period increases, the cheese loses more moisture, develops a stronger flavour and becomes harder and more crumbly in texture. Other techniques that create variations in flavour and texture include the addition of salt and stretching the curd.

Salt is an essential ingredient in all cheese. It contributes to the flavour and also has a role in drawing out moisture from the cheese, creating a smoother texture and helping protect it from bacterial contamination.

Some varieties of cheese have salt added during processing and some by immersing in a brine solution. A stringy texture is created in some cheeses by stretching the curd and kneading it in hot water. An example is Mozzarella, an Italian cheese commonly used on pizzas.

The article The science of cheese explains cheesemaking principles in greater depth. Quality assurance takes place throughout the production chain: at the farms, in milk receiving, during the manufacturing process, and in packaging the final product.

Without our high-quality raw milk, it would not be possible to make these cheeses. But Valio is an expert in both milk quality assurance as well as cheese product development and production.

This resulted in a miniature cheese factory, where the first tasting pieces of new cheeses are made. One test run requires — litres of milk, and the result is up to a hundred kilos of cheese.

Many years ago, the Test Cheese Factory's hundred-kilo batch was the smallest possible test batch, until the cheese team joined with a small Finnish company to think of ways for the first tests to be run in a smaller scale — perhaps even in the product development laboratory?

This development resulted in the miniature cheese factory, which can be used to make small batches of cheese. Before, one test may have needed at least litres of milk and now, the smallest possible batch can be made from one litre of milk. The miniature cheese factory can make up to a g piece of cheese in a day. Conditions for the miniature cheese factory are very similar to the Test Cheese Factory. Cheeses mature at the same rate, three weeks and up, but it is now possible to also test different manufacturing conditions.

Mobile Newsletter chat close. Mobile Newsletter chat dots. Mobile Newsletter chat avatar. Mobile Newsletter chat subscribe. What Are the Different Types of Cheese?

Cheeses may be categorized by texture, flavor, age, region and a host of other ways. Camembert left and Brie are both examples of soft-ripened or bloomy rind cheeses. Brie Camembert Cambozola. Havarti Muenster American Jarlsberg chaumes. Limburger taleggio Epoisses Alsatian Munster. Roquefort Stilton Gorgonzola Danish blue. This selection of Spanish tapas shows manchego cheese pieces surrounded by Spanish chorizo, olives, bread slices and grapes.

Machego is an example of a hard cheese. Parmigiano-Reggiano Asiago pecorino manchego. Now That's Cool. There are over 1, different types of cheese in the world. By some estimates, there are also almost as many ways to classify them. What cheese is the most popular? Cheddar is the most popular cheese type in the world and the second-most popular cheese in the U. One of the reasons for its historic popularity is that it was the first ever factory-produced cheese, with the first factory founded in Rome, N.

What are the top ten cheeses? The top ten cheese types in the world include some familiar and some not-so-familiar names. What is the most expensive cheese?

Its hefty price tag is due to its rarity. It takes 25 liters 6. Which cheese is used for cooking? The classic cheddar cheese tastes great in cooking or after being melted. Many variations of macaroni and cheese and grilled cheese use it.