Milk, Raw Cow's - Yellow Coloured Cheese

[hplace]

I am using raw milk from my Jersey cow to make my cheese. The cream on this milk is quite yellow, especially in the summer time when the cow is on grass. I understand the reason for the yellow color - the carotene in the green grass is absorbed in the milk fat and produces the yellow color.

The problem I have is that the cheeses that are supposed to be white (like mozorrela) turn out yellow. This doesn't bother me so much, but my friends and neighbors who aren't used to it are slightly repulsed by the color. Does anyone know how to remove the yellow color from the milk/cheese caused by the carotene in the milkfat? It's kind of the opposite of using annatto - instead of trying to color the cheese, I want to whiten it....

[MrsKK]

Do you skim your milk for making mozz?  I do and find that the cheese is much whiter.

[hplace]

I haven't done that for mozz. I'll try that next time. What about the other cheeses that require some cream for the right texture/flavor?

[MrsKK]

What other white cheeses are you making?  I don't use coloring in any of my cheeses anymore - my family used to cringe at eating cheddar with no colorant, but they are getting used to it.

[linuxboy]

The carotene is bound with the fat, so skimming helps. It's the easiest and cheapest method.

You could add a complementary blue-green color, which makes the yellow not as bold. You can add Titanium dioxide, which will whiten the cheese, or you can bleach the cream with benzoil peroxide. Or, you can separate the cream out and use a bleaching soil that absorbs carotene.

[hplace]

Some of the other cheeses I make that look a little odd with a yellow tinge are queso fresco and monterrey jack. I've started adding annatto to my cheddar so that it has a definite orange color rather than a yellowish tinge, but if it came out white, I wouldn't add coloring at all.

I've never heard of using blue-green color, titanium dioxide, benzoil peroxide, or bleaching soil. I will have to research where to get these ingredients from and how to use them. Thanks for the ideas, linuxboy.

[linuxboy]

Came across this http://jds.fass.org/cgi/reprint/52/7/968.pdf

Might help.

[fxcuisine]

Squirel, you can tell your neighbour that here in Switzerland the very best cheeses are expected to be slightly yellow - that's a sign the cows have grazed actual alpine grass with betacarotene and not been fed congealed turds in some milk factory.

[hplace]

I will tell them exactly what you said!! Thanks.

[justsocat]

I faced exactly the same problem a while ago and even posted about it. Now I solve it by lowering the cooking temp and my mozz is snow white. But when I make this cheese for myself not for neighborhood, I prefare the yellow color

[BikerChick]

Buy a Dexter: Naturally homogenized white milk!