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Kindstedt
Join the modern renaissance in artisan
and farmstead cheesemaking
AMERICAN
Praise for American Farmstead Cheese FARMSTEAD
American Farmstead Cheese is the essential resource for Features include: Paul Kindstedt with the
aspiring and experienced cheesemakers. The book is • A fully illustrated guide to basic cheesemaking VERMONT CHEESE COUNCIL
packed with cheesemaking history, technique, artistry, • Explanations of milk composition, starter cultures,
and business strategies. and the chemistry of cheese
Paul Kindstedt explores the rich traditions of European • Effects of calcium, pH, salt, and moisture
and early American cheeses and their influence on today’s • Ways to ensure safety and quality
artisan and farmstead cheesemakers. Kindstedt combines • Methods for analyzing cheese composition
his love for small-scale cheese production with his scien-
Successful cheesemakers share their marketing plans,
tific expertise to provide a wealth of practical resources.
business strategies, personal setbacks and successes, and
the unique creative spirit of artisan and farmstead cheese-
making.
Paul Kindstedt, Ph.D., is a professor at the University of
Vermont in the department of Nutrition and Food
Sciences. He teaches Dairy Chemistry, Fermented Dairy
Foods, and Cheese and Culture.
The Vermont Cheese Council, a nonprofit that sup-
ports Vermont cheesemakers, contributes to a vision
for sustainable agriculture and the preservation of
Vermont’s rural landscape.
3
If you think about it, it is pretty amazing that a bland raw material
such as milk can give rise to the diversity of flavors, aromas, colors, and
textures we find in cheese. This suggests that milk is far more complex
than first meets the eye, a conclusion amply borne out by more than a cen-
tury of scientific research. Milk is indeed a complex biological material.
Although it is not necessary to become an expert in dairy science to make
good cheese, it is important to understand certain key aspects of milk chem-
istry in order to make good cheese (and safe cheese) day in and day out, and
to be able to diagnose and correct problems quickly when they arise, as they
inevitably will. The objective of chapter 3 is to introduce the essential aspects
of milk chemistry, which will serve as a foundation for the next few chapters.
This information will help to illuminate what cheese actually is, and what
happens during its manufacture and subsequent ripening.
This is the first of several chapters that focus on the science of cheese-
making. Some farmstead cheesemakers may feel uncomfortable with the sci-
entific approach to cheesemaking, viewing it as unnecessary or perhaps even
incompatible with their art. If you fall into this camp, please be assured that
the science presented in this book is not meant to replace the art of cheese-
making but rather to augment and strengthen it. After all, the art of cheese-
making is really about working with, shaping, and to some extent controlling
the forces of nature. The science of cheesemaking offers a complementary set
of tools for shaping and controlling those forces more effectively. In today’s
unforgiving marketplace, where retailers and consumers demand cheeses
with consistently good quality and absolute safety, effective control is a pre-
requisite to successful cheesemaking at any scale. The challenge for the farm-
stead cheesemaker is to strike the right balance between art and science. The
goal should be to achieve the appropriate level of control to ensure safety and
consistently high quality while at the same time giving nature enough free
37
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rein to encourage the diversity and unique- Clearly it is difficult to make broad gen-
ness of character that make artisanal eralizations about milk composition,
cheeses special. When viewed from this given the high degree of variability.
perspective, the art and science of cheese- The data presented in table 3.1 provide
making go hand in hand; both are essential a comparison of the gross compositions of
to achieving the difficult balance of making cow’s, goat’s, and sheep’s milk. These data
truly special artisanal cheeses while main- represent average values obtained from
taining the high level of safety and quality various research studies and may not
that is demanded in 21st-century America. reflect the average value of any individual
animal, breed, herd or flock, geographic
region, and so forth. Nevertheless, the
data do provide a general picture of how
THE COMPOSITION OF MILK: the three types of milk compare in gross
COW, GOAT, AND SHEEP composition. Sheep’s milk almost always
contains much higher levels of fat, pro-
In addition to water, milk contains four tein, and ash (that is, minerals) than cow’s
major constituents: fat, protein, lactose, or goat’s milk. The high solids content of
and minerals. Before we examine the sheep’s milk strongly affects its coagula-
characteristics of these constituents as tion and acidification properties, and its
they relate to cheesemaking, it is impor- cheese-yielding potential, as will be dis-
tant to recognize that the composition of cussed later in this chapter. The fat and
milk, particularly the fat and protein con- protein contents of cow’s and goat’s milk
tents, varies greatly regardless of whether are generally fairly similar, and this seems
the milk comes from a cow, goat, or particularly true in Vermont. However,
sheep. Among the major factors that that does not mean that cow’s and goat’s
cause milk composition to vary are the
breed and genetic history of the animal, SPECIES
milk 39
milk are the same. In fact, there are signif- to a single oxygen atom. What makes this
icant differences, such as in the specific molecule so special is that it contains four
makeup of fat and protein, that have separate regions of weak electrical charge,
important implications for cheesemaking, two positively charged and two negatively
as we will discuss shortly. But first, let’s charged regions, as illustrated in figure
review the major constituents in milk and 3.1. Molecules such as water that possess
some of their key characteristics. separate regions of negative and positive
charge are called polar molecules. Each
charged region of a polar molecule is
Water attracted to oppositely charged regions of
other polar molecules or ions (ions are
Water is by far the most abundant con- either positively charged, as in sodium, or
stituent in milk. The water molecule is negatively charged, as in chloride) that
made up of two hydrogen atoms bonded happen to be in the vicinity. Because of
- - - -
O O
H H H H
+ + + +
- -
Hydrogen Hydrogen
Bond O Bond
H H
+ +
- - - -
O O
H H H H
+ + + +
Figure 3.1. Structure of the water molecule. Each water molecule possesses two
regions of positive charge and two regions of negative charge. Each charged region
is attracted to, and capable of bonding (via hydrogen bonds) with, an oppositely
charged region of another water molecule, a different polar molecule, or an ion.
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milk 41
Glycerol
(18 C’s) (12 C’s)
Glycerol
Glycerol
(12 C’s) (12 C’s)
+
(4 C’s) (4 C’s)
Figure 3.2. The triglycerides of milkfat consist of Figure 3.3. Breakdown of a triglyceride by
three fatty acid molecules bonded to a glycerol lipase enzyme to form a diglyceride plus a free
molecule. Fatty acids consist of chains of carbon fatty acid. Free fatty acids with ten or fewer
(C) atoms of varying length. Most fatty acids in carbon (C) atoms have powerful piquant fla-
milkfat range from 4 to 18 carbon atoms. Milkfat vors and aromas that contribute to cheese
is unusual in that it contains a high proportion of flavor, but may also cause rancidity if they
short-chain fatty acids—that is, fatty acids con- occur in high concentrations or in the wrong
taining 10 carbon atoms or fewer. proportions.
separated from glycerol to form free fatty The nonpolar triglycerides in milk are
acids (figure 3.3). Short-chain free fatty packaged in the form of droplets or glob-
acids are essential sources of desirable ules. Each milkfat globule contains thou-
piquant flavor and aroma in many sands of triglyceride molecules that
cheeses, but they can also be sources of coalesce to form a droplet surrounded by
rancid defects if they occur at excessively a polar surface membrane. The milkfat
high concentrations or in the wrong pro- globule membrane is derived primarily
portions. The fat in sheep’s milk and from the cell membrane of the mammary
goat’s milk contains higher concentra- cell that produced the globule and is
tions of short-chain fatty acids than that applied to the surface of the fat droplet
in cow’s milk. Because of this, some sheep during milk secretion. This milkfat globule
and goat cheeses attain a more peppery, membrane, being polar in nature, inter-
piquant flavor and aroma profile than acts well with water and prevents the fat
their cow’s-milk counterparts. globules from coalescing with each other
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and separating out as a distinct fat phase. broken up and the milkfat globules redis-
As alluded to earlier, the objective of but- persed by warming and stirring the milk.
termaking is to disrupt and dislodge the In contrast, churning or freezing causes
milkfat globule membrane by violent agi- permanent damage to the fat globule
tation so that the nonpolar fat droplets, membrane, and the destabilized fat
stripped of their polar surface mem- cannot be reincorporated into the milk by
brane, coalesce and separate out as butter simple means.
granules. The same process, known as Churning and freezing should be
churning, may occur to varying degrees avoided in milk for cheesemaking, espe-
in your cheesemilk if the milk is subjected cially in cow’s and goat’s milk, for at least
to excessive agitation and foaming, in two reasons. First, destabilized fat that is
which case you may observe butter gran- present as floating butter granules or as an
ules floating on the surface of the milk or, oily layer, depending on temperature, will
at higher temperatures, an oily layer. be lost to the whey instead of being incor-
Freeze–thaw cycles also disrupt the porated into the curd. The result is lost
milkfat globule membrane and can lead cheese yield, therefore lost profit. Second,
to fat destabilization. fat globules with damaged surface mem-
It is important to understand that fat branes are very vulnerable to the action of
destabilization and its separation as a dis- lipase enzymes that may be present in the
tinct phase caused by churning or freezing milk. Lipase enzymes attack vulnerable
is not the same thing as creaming. triglycerides and preferentially snip off the
Creaming occurs very quickly in freshly short-chain fatty acids, converting them
harvested cow’s milk as fat globules into free fatty acids (figure 3.3). As noted
spontaneously rise and form a cream layer earlier, short-chain free fatty acids have
on the surface. Rapid creaming occurs powerful flavors and aromas. For many
because cow’s milk contains a “sticky” cheeses, the formation of short-chain free
whey protein known as cryoglobulin, fatty acids in the cheese during ripening is
which attaches to the surface of milkfat necessary to obtain desirable flavor and
globules as the milk cools and causes glob- aroma. However, the formation of free
ules to stick together as clusters. The fatty acids in the milk before cheesemaking
resulting clusters quickly rise to the sur- is never desirable, because free fatty acids
face and form a cream layer, due to their can inhibit the starter culture and cause
large size and low density. Goat’s and slower acidification during cheesemaking;
sheep’s milk do not contain cryoglobulin; as we will see in later chapters, this may
consequently, their fat globules do not affect cheese quality. Furthermore, disrup-
cluster and creaming occurs much more tion of the milkfat globule membrane
slowly than in cow’s milk (over several through agitation or freezing may lead to
days versus several hours for cow’s milk). the formation of excessive or unbalanced
Creaming does not damage the milkfat amounts of short-chain free fatty acids in
globule membrane. The clusters that the cheese during ripening, and ultimately
make up the cream layer can be easily to rancid defects.
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milk 43
Cow’s and goat’s milk are particularly milk cheese, to avoid situations that lead
susceptible to rancid defects because they to excessive agitation, foaming, or freezing
contain indigenous lipase enzymes that of the cheesemilk. This is even more
originate from the animal herself, which important if the milk is from animals that
she secretes in her milk. In normal cow’s are near the end of their lactation cycle
and goat’s milk, the milkfat globule mem- and/or have a high incidence of mastitis.
brane protects the triglyercides against Both conditions trigger an increase in
these indigenous lipase enzymes. However, lipase activity in milk, thereby rendering
if the membrane becomes damaged milkfat globules especially vulnerable to
through freezing or churning, lipase is lipolysis and the production of free fatty
able to gain access to the triglycerides acids. Thus cheesemakers who produce
and release free fatty acids into the milk. milk and cheese seasonally should be par-
Furthermore, around 80 percent of the ticularly gentle with their milk in autumn
indigenous lipase enzymes preferentially as their animals approach the end of their
attach to the casein micelles (see figure lactation cycle. Cheesemakers should also
3.5). Consequently, when the milk is be very cognizant of the health status of
coagulated and made into cheese, the each animal that they milk and minimize
lipase enzymes from the milk are carried the incidence of mastitis in the herd or
by the casein micelles into the cheese, flock.
where they become concentrated in an Even if milkfat is not subject to abuse
active form and able to attack milkfat such as freezing and churning, it is still
globules with damaged membranes. This vulnerable to the action of lipases that are
greatly increases the risk of rancidity produced by bacteria in the milk, if the
development during aging. Sheep’s milk is bacteria are allowed to reach high popu-
more forgiving in this respect because it lations. Psychrotrophic bacteria—that is,
has very little indigenous lipase activity; it bacteria that grow at refrigeration tem-
is much less vulnerable to rancidity, even peratures—are particularly troublesome
when the milk experiences churning or because many of the psychrotrophes
freezing. Consequently, freezing is some- secrete lipases that can penetrate even
times used as a means to store sheep’s milk undamaged milkfat globules and cause
for use in winter when the supply of fresh rancidity. Furthermore, these psychro-
milk is limited. Even sheep’s milk, how- trophic bacteria and their lipase enzymes
ever, may develop rancid defects if stored become concentrated in the cheese and
frozen for long periods of time at temper- remain active during ripening, thus
atures near the freezing point. Ideally increasing the potential for rancid
sheep’s milk should be stored frozen at defects. Consequently, the longer that
temperatures of -17°F/-27°C or lower to milk is held in refrigerated storage before
minimize problems with rancidity being made into cheese, the higher the
(Wendorff, 2000). population of psychrotrophic bacteria in
The bottom line is that it is wise for the the milk, the greater the concentration of
cheesemaker, especially of cow’s- or goat’s- bacterial lipase in the cheese, and the
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milk 45
milk 47
and texture development. One of the keys enzymes attack the amino acid backbones
to making consistent-quality cheese is to of the casein molecules, cutting the long
produce cheese with consistent mineral chains into smaller fragments called pep-
content. This process of absorbing hydro- tides. The production of peptides by
gen ions, known as buffering, and releas- rennet is the first step in a complex
ing calcium phosphate to the whey will be process that leads to the development of
explained more fully in chapters 5 and 6. desirable flavor and texture in many aged
Milk with high casein (and therefore cheeses such as Cheddar.
high calcium phosphate) content has Milk also contains a proteolytic enzyme
much greater buffering capacity (the known as plasmin that originates from the
capacity to absorb hydrogen ions) than animal herself, as well as proteolytic
milk with low casein content. Therefore, enzymes that originate from bacteria
when the casein content of milk changes present in the milk. The starter bacteria, as
—seasonally, for example—the buffering well as nonstarter bacteria present in the
capacity of the milk changes and the milk as contaminants, display varying
amount of starter culture needed to pro- degrees of proteolytic activity. When
duce cheese with the same mineral con- high-quality milk is used in cheese-
tent will change. The higher the casein making, these milk- and bacterial-derived
content, the more starter culture will be proteolytic enzymes often contribute to
needed to attain similar mineral content the development of desirable flavor and
in the final cheese, all else being equal. As texture. When cheese is made from poor-
we will see later, the cheesemaker is often quality milk, however, excessive proteol-
faced with the need to make adjustments ysis may occur in both the milk and the
in the cheesemaking process, such as with final cheese, which is never desirable. For
the starter culture, as milk composition example, milk from animals that suffer
changes in order to make cheese of con- from mastitis contains elevated levels of
sistent quality. the plasmin and other proteolytic en-
A final noteworthy feature of casein is zymes. The same is true for animals that
that it is susceptible to breakdown by are at the end of their lactation cycle.
enzymes, leading to desirable or undesir- Consequently, mastitic and late-lactation
able consequences. The enzymes in milk milks may undergo considerable proteol-
and cheese that break down casein, ysis before the milk is made into cheese,
known as proteolytic enzymes or proteases, resulting in damage to the casein micelles.
may originate from several different Milk with damaged casein micelles coagu-
sources. The most obvious source is the lates to form a weak curd that loses more
rennet used to coagulate the milk. For solids to the whey, resulting in lower
many (but not all) cheeses, about 5 to 10 cheese yield. The fragile curd also retains
percent of the rennet enzymes added to more water, resulting in cheese with
the milk are retained in the cheese in abnormally high moisture content that is
active form. During ripening, these susceptible to excessive proteolysis and the
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development of bitterness. Thus mastitic the casein micelles. Thus casein micelles
and late-lactation milks are quite prob- serve as a major carrier for calcium and
lematic for the cheesemaker due in part to phosphorus in milk, as discussed earlier.
the proteolytic damage that is inflicted on Other major minerals in milk include
the casein micelles. sodium, chlorine, and potassium, which,
Psychrotrophic bacteria represent an- in contrast to calcium and phosphorus,
other important source of excessive prote- exist almost exclusively as free ions in
olysis in milk. Many of the psychrotrophic milk’s water phase.
bacteria secrete proteolytic enzymes that The total mineral content of milk is
attack casein and damage the casein often estimated by incinerating a sample at
micelles. The proteolytic damage caused an extremely high temperature (1,022°F/
by psychrotrophic growth results in poor 550°C) and then measuring the amount of
coagulation, lower cheese yield, higher- ash that remains. The ash content is not
moisture cheese, and increased risk of bit- exactly the same thing as the total mineral
terness development during ripening. content, but it gives a reasonable estimate.
Thus, as highlighted earlier, it behooves Sheep’s milk has a much higher ash con-
the cheesemaker to keep psychrotrophic tent than cow’s and goat’s milk because
bacteria out of the cheesemilk and to pre- sheep’s milk is also much higher in casein
vent them from growing. (see table 3.1) and, therefore, has many
more casein micelles that serve as carriers
for calcium phosphate. Thus the higher
Minerals ash content in sheep’s milk reflects the
higher calcium phosphate content associ-
Milk contains about 30 different min- ated with the casein micelles.
erals, but only a few of them are present
in greater than trace amounts. The two
most abundant are calcium and phos- Lactose
phorus. Calcium constitutes about 30
percent of the total minerals in milk. In Lactose, the structure of which is shown
turn, about 30 percent of the total cal- in figure 3.6, is a sugar made up of the
cium is soluble (that is, dispersed same atoms as those in sucrose (table
throughout the water phase of the milk), sugar), arranged in much the same way,
with 20 percent of that being bound to but with some important differences.
citrate and 10 percent existing as free Lactose consists of two simple sugars, glu-
ions. The other two-thirds are associated cose and galactose, bonded together. An
with the casein micelles in the form of important feature of lactose is that it con-
colloidal calcium phosphate. Phosphorus tains eight -OH groups—that is, eight
constitutes about 15 percent of the total hydrogen atoms bonded to an oxygen
minerals in milk, and about 50 percent of atom. As noted earlier with respect to the
the total phosphorus is associated with water molecule, the bonding of hydrogen
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milk 49
CH2OH CH2OH
O H O
HO H H H
(β) O (α)
OH H OH H
H OH
H
H OH H OH
galactose glucose
Figure 3.6. Chemical structure of lactose. Notice the -OH groups that surround the
ring structures of galactose and glucose. Each -OH group forms a polar region along
the ring. Lactose is therefore very polar in nature and disperses well in water.
with oxygen creates separate regions of able, and thus can influence desirable
positive and negative charge that render and undesirable fermentations during
the -OH group polar in nature. Therefore, ripening. Consequently, proper control
the carbon rings that make up the glucose over residual lactose levels is very impor-
and galactose components of the lactose tant, and some of the manufacturing
molecule are surrounded by polar -OH steps in the making of certain cheeses,
groups, which enable lactose to mix well such the addition of water to curds and
with water. whey or to the drained curd, specifically
The most important feature of lactose serve to control the amount of residual
with respect to cheesemaking is that it lactose in the final cheese.
serves as an energy source (in other One of the nutritional concerns pre-
words, food) for the starter culture and sented by some dairy products is that a
other bacteria that may be present in the sizable proportion of the human popu-
milk as contaminants. The primary func- lation is lactose intolerant, or unable to
tion of the starter culture is to ferment digest lactose, which results in gastroin-
the lactose to lactic acid, which we will testinal upset when such individuals
examine in more detail later. Although consume lactose. Although fresh cheeses
most of the lactose is either lost to the typically contain some residual lactose
whey or fermented by the starter culture that may be problematic to lactose-
during cheesemaking, a small amount is intolerant individuals, properly aged
carried over into the cheese. This residual cheeses generally do not present a
lactose is very important because it serves problem because the residual lactose is
as an energy source for bacteria present in fermented to negligible levels during
the cheese, both desirable and undesir- ripening.