Author Topic: Cream Cheese in 20 minutes and other wonders.........  (Read 3625 times)

Dulcelife

  • Guest
Cream Cheese in 20 minutes and other wonders.........
« on: June 11, 2012, 06:27:08 PM »
I have growing fond of Havarti in the last month or so but, suddenly I am having a falling out with the particular brand I have been consuming and wonder if it is even a real havarti.

What does this have to do with cream cheese you ask?  Please indulge me as this is a tale of two cheese adulterants albeit, naturally derived but all the same unnatural.

It all started when I decided to look on the label for the maker and visit whatever website I may find in the interest of gleaning any bit of data on its making. Well this eventually led to a couple of discoveries that are both disappointing and alarming to us wannabe Cheese Artisans.

Dofino led me to Arla.  At Arla's website interesting documents surface targeted at manufacturers.

Highlights:
FMP or functional milk protein powder:  "Cream Cheese is 20 minutes instead of 24 hours", "more yoghurt from less milk",  "replace skimmed milk in ice cream", etc.

I quote:

20 minutes to quality
cream cheese
Not even an expert sensory panel can taste the difference between cream
cheese made the traditional way and one made utilising our simple but
revolutionary technique. By using a combination of water, fat and our functional
milk proteins we are able to cut cream cheese production from 24
hours to 20 minutes – without the need for any investment in expensive
equipment. No more fermentation tanks and filtration equipment – you
can achieve this saving using pasteurisation and homogenisation equipment
alone. The technique can also be used with other cheese products
like feta and processed cheese.

And behind door number two we have:

Nutrilac CH-4560:

Benefit number one:  "The protein particles in Nutrilac® CH-4560 imitate the removed fat globules, and ensure that cheese containing Nutrilac® CH-4560 has the same creaminess and texture (mouthfeel) as a full fat alternative. Production is standardised, ensuring the exact same product every time."

Here's a good one:  "CH-4560 makes it possible to increase the water content in cheese by up to 3%, without resulting in softer textures. This can increase yields by 5-18%, with a reduced raw material cost pr. kg cheese of 2-4%"

Good reading.  And, goes to illustrate that even in places like Denmark, technology helps produce industrial/factory cheese far removed from their namesake.  More importantly, trying to duplicate a tasty piece of supermarket cheese is pointless.

http://dofinousa.com/

http://www.arlafoodsingredients.com/applications/application-overview/cheese/

linuxboy

  • Guest
Re: Cream Cheese in 20 minutes and other wonders.........
« Reply #1 on: June 11, 2012, 06:59:33 PM »
Quote
More importantly, trying to duplicate a tasty piece of supermarket cheese is pointless.
Plants using more advanced formulations like the ones you mentioned are in the extreme minority in the US. By and large, it's still milk, starter, coagulant, and salt. Duplicating is somewhat hard though, mostly due to natural differences.

Tomer1

  • Guest
Re: Cream Cheese in 20 minutes and other wonders.........
« Reply #2 on: June 11, 2012, 09:15:41 PM »
I think its harder to come across a good supermaket cheese anyhow, at least over here.
Its usually smaller (and much more expenssive) producers who offer nice cheeses.   
The industrial stuff is just minimum aged (3-5 weeks maybe), high moisture, tasteless and aroma-less coagulated milk :)     I really dont understand why people eat it.   

FRANCOIS

  • Guest
Re: Cream Cheese in 20 minutes and other wonders.........
« Reply #3 on: June 11, 2012, 09:23:14 PM »
Those are all derived from an Alpma designed process called micro-particulatation.  Basically they manupulate whey protein to act like fat.

I wouldn't worry too much about it, it's very expensive and used on a grand scale .  It's not really that common though.  Most of those plants are in Europe.  In large cheese factories the whey is already being used for powder, which is lucrative,  so a new piece of kit that costs millions and millions isn't that attractive.  It's not common to have a large whey stream and also be producing high fat products, they are normally made in seperate plants.

FRANCOIS

  • Guest
Re: Cream Cheese in 20 minutes and other wonders.........
« Reply #4 on: June 11, 2012, 09:29:29 PM »
That's not an entirely fair statement.  The best cheddars in the world, consistently year on year, are made in factories the size of a small American town.  There is a lot of technology behind it, in particular processing efficiencies and designer cultures, but at it's core it's the same product.

Dulcelife

  • Guest
Re: Cream Cheese in 20 minutes and other wonders.........
« Reply #5 on: June 14, 2012, 10:30:36 PM »
I think its harder to come across a good supermaket cheese anyhow, at least over here.
Its usually smaller (and much more expenssive) producers who offer nice cheeses.   
The industrial stuff is just minimum aged (3-5 weeks maybe), high moisture, tasteless and aroma-less coagulated milk :)     I really dont understand why people eat it.   

There are notable exceptions here in the United States especially in the cheddar and farmstead cheese arena where it is now possible to acquire fine product aged 3, 6, 12 months.  Cabot Creamery cooperative products are one of the finest (in my opinion), cheddar cheeses depending on what farm from the cooperative they derive from.

FRANCOIS

  • Guest
Re: Cream Cheese in 20 minutes and other wonders.........
« Reply #6 on: June 16, 2012, 08:03:57 AM »
To get the texture of aged cheddar there is still no substitute for time.  Flavour on the other hand....I can make a 3 year old cheddar in 3 months, but the technology hasn't been commercialised because:
1.  The texture is still that of a 3month old cheddar.
2.  Consumers would revolt if they found out.