What to think about when moving into white cheese
(it’s easier than you think)
Producing white cheese the traditional way can be quite a challenge. But if you’re a milk producer looking to explore new possibilities, rest assured: the move from milk to white cheese can actually be smoother, easier and more hassle-free than you think. Here, we address a few potential concern.
Reducing the space problem
Traditional cheese production requires a lot of space. The cheese is made in vats and the process requires a forming and pressing system, moulds and their cleaning units. Last but not least, traditional cheesemaking also needs a system for brining. Add portioning and packaging, and you can sum up a process that takes up a lot of space. Furthermore, the maturation process – which can take weeks – puts tough requirements on storage rooms and temperatures.
Our best-practice line for white cheese removes most of these headaches. For example, there is no need for lengthy storage – simply fill and close the package, leave the cheese overnight to coagulate and it’s ready for consumption. As for space requirements, the equipment is compact: in comparison, it needs down to one third of the space needed for traditional production of white cheese.
No need for cheese expertise
Your operators are dairy production specialists. They know their machines and they know your processes. But what training will they need to be able to grade cheese quality? How can they learn to understand when curd coagulum is ready for cutting, to assess maturation, to control every step of the process in order to secure cheese quality? In short, how can you make your staff expert cheesemakers? Well, with our best-practice line for white cheese, you don’t have to. The entire process is automated and recipe-based – a skilled dairy operator only requires basic training to get started.
Easy to plan and schedule
We’ve already concluded that long maturation processes are out of the way. However, you still need to secure space for a cooling room. But as the product’s shelf life is up to six months – which is much longer than traditionally produced white cheese – you have excellent possibilities to plan your production and schedule distribution in an efficient way. For example, you can use surplus milk for white cheese production. And although the product can be consumed almost immediately after packaging, you can also choose to keep it on your shelves without having to worry about its expiry date. When it fits your distribution schedule, or there is demand from the store, you already have the product ready for delivery.
A line setup that works for different methods
Different techniques are used when making cheese. Ultrafiltration concentrates solids of milk that makes sure that not only casein but also the whey proteins are kept in the milk solids. Another technique is recombination of milk powders. There are also two types of acidified white cheese production methods: using natural starters via the BAF (Bacteriological Acidified Feta) method, or acidifiers in the GDL (Glucono Delta Lactone) method.
Our concept for the best-practice line for white cheese is based on packaging of liquid cheese and coagulation inside the package.
There are things to consider when moving from milk to white cheese production. But to summarize there’s a good chance it’s both more profitable and less complicated than you’d imagine.
Want to know more about our best-practice lines for white cheese?