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Cheese Making Best Practice: Pressing Cut Curds

Many cheese making recipes for drier cheeses include cutting the curd after which the common next step is to form and press the cut curds. Note that salting stage of cheese making can be by adding salt to the cut curds before molding and pressing or after either directly or by soaking in a brine. Salt is added for flavor and to inhibit the growth of undesirable microbes. The goal of pressing the cut and possibly salted curds is to reform a large shaped drier curd normally preferably without any voids. This will often involve the use of a mold or hoop and a cheese press.