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Milk

Milk, the main ingredient in cheese making, should be as fresh as possible (one to five days old), whole, unhomogenized (cream-line) and lightly pasteurized.

Milk is composed of mostly water and milk solids: casein (milk protein), minerals, lactose (milk sugar), butterfat (milk fat), vitamins and trace elements. Milk components important in cheese making are fat, casein, lactose and soluble calcium. Yield and firmness of curd are affected by the relationship between the fat and casein and formation of curd is dependent on the presence of soluble calcium which attaches to the casein. Lactose is reduced to lactic acid by the starter culture affecting the acidity level throughout the cheese making process.

Unpasteurized (raw) milk contains many natural flora which are desirable in cheese making, but can also possibly contain harmful disease causing pathogens such as tuberculosis and salmonella. Cheese made with unpasteurized milk needs to be aged for over 60 days in order to eliminate these pathogens making unpasteurized milk unsuitable for soft cheeses.

Pasteurized milk is heat treated to destroy unwanted pathogens and in effect kills all of the bacteria, even bacteria which are beneficial to cheese flavor. The flavor profile of cheese from pasteurized milk will never be as complex as that of unpasteurized (raw) milk. Proteins, vitamins and lactose (milk sugar) are also less available for digestion in pasteurized milk.

Homogenized milk has been heat treated and pressurized to evenly disburse the butterfat globules throughout the milk. Homogenizing milk also alters the milk protein resulting in a smoother, looser cheese curd. Calcium chloride will help restore the altered milk protein to produce a curd suitable for hard cheese making.

Fresh - Where to buy the milk? Remember When Dairy. Mark and DeOnna Ganske operate a dairy near Yantis, Texas, and come to The Sunset Valley Farmers Market (Berger Center parking lot) in Austin every Saturday mornings to sell their milk. The Ganskes own one of only three grade A cow’s milk dairies in Texas licensed to sell low-temperature pasteurized cow’s milk products. Their Jersey and Jersey-Holstein cows are not treated with any artificial hormones, rBGH, rBST, or antibiotics and are fed 90% grass.