🧀 Cheese
On average about 10 L of milk per 1 kg (about 14 L for Parmesan). Thousands of varieties.
Cheese is a dairy product made by coagulating the milk protein casein and separating the curd from the whey. Milk (cow’s, sheep’s, goat’s, buffalo and others) is acidified with starter bacteria and rennet or its microbial equivalents is added, or it is curdled with acid. The curd is cut, heated and stirred to expel whey, then moulded, pressed, salted and, for most varieties, left to ripen for anywhere from a few weeks to several years.
On average about 10 litres of milk go into 1 kg of cheese, but less for soft cheeses and noticeably more for hard ones. Cheesemaking is one of the oldest technologies for preserving milk: archaeologists have found traces of cheesemaking about 7,000 years old. Today there are hundreds, even thousands, of varieties, many of them tied to a specific region.
Cheeses are divided into fresh, soft, semi-hard, hard, mould-ripened, brined and stretched-curd (pasta filata) types. The differences depend on the milk, microflora, processing temperature, moisture and ripening conditions. Cheese is eaten on its own and added to salads, baking, pasta and hot dishes.
What it includes
How it connects to milk
Links
- Made from which milk
- 🥛 Cow's milk, 🥛 Sheep's milk, 🥛 Goat's milk, 🥛 Yak milk
- From whose milk
- 🐐 Goat
- Made from
- 🥛 Milk
- How it is made
- 🔄 Curdling, 🔄 Ripening
- Where it is made
- 🏭 Cheese dairy
- What is made from it
- 🧀 Whey
- What is needed
- 🧂 Salt
- Where it is stored or sold
- 🧊 Refrigerator
- Who works with it
- 🧑🍳 Cheesemaker
- What it contains
- 🧪 Casein
- Associated with
- 🥛 Milk
- Product type
- 🏺 Traditional dairy products
- Part of
- 🧀 Dairy products
- Wine and milk
- 🍷 Wine and cheese, 🍷 Wine, 🥃 Pomace, 🍷 Histamine in wine
Frequently asked questions
How much milk does it take to make 1 kg of cheese?
About 10 litres on average, but this is a rough guide: soft and fresh cheeses need less, hard aged cheeses more (Parmigiano Reggiano takes about 14 litres per kg).
What is rennet?
An enzyme preparation (mainly chymosin) that coagulates the casein in milk. Historically it came from calves’ stomachs; today microbial and recombinant equivalents are widely used.
What is the difference between hard and soft cheese?
Hard cheeses contain less moisture, are pressed harder and aged longer. Soft cheeses are moister and ripen briefly or not at all.
History
Similar
🫕 Smen · 🥣 Tvorog · 🧈 Butter · 🧀 Parmesan · 🧀 Pecorino · 🧀 Camembert
ℹ️ Dairy products contain lactose and milk proteins: if you are lactose intolerant or allergic to milk protein, ask a doctor.