Incorporate Cream Top Into Milk Before or During Cheesemaking?

[G.Nat]

Hi!

When making cultured mozz with nonhomogenized or raw milk, do I need to incorporate or breakdown the cream top into the milk at all. I had been physically shaking the milk to break up the clump of cream, but I read that agitating may not be good for the fat and protein structure. Then I began to wonder if it is even necessary to incorporate the cream at the start of the process or if the cream will incorporate into the milk during heating or any other of the cheesemaking stages. Any thoughts on how best to deal with the cream top would be great.

Thanks!

[Mornduk]

I do not know what is the best way -would be interesting to read some facts. What I do with raw Jersey milk is incorporate the fat into the milk with the skimmer going top-down a couple of inches over the whole surface just before adding the rennet.

[mikekchar]

Ideally you would use very fresh milk where the cream has not separated yet.  I have absolutely no chance of that, so I have tried lots and lots of different things.  By far the technique that has worked the best for me is to take the milk out of the fridge and shake it every 10 minutes or so until the milk gets to room temp (about 20 C).  You don't want to shake it past about 22 C because it does seem to damage the fat globules (I get more fat coming out in the whey).  At around room temp, though, it seems that shaking works incredibly well.  I've also tried things like blending and whisking.  These produced very poorly performing milks.  For whatever reason, the fat just doesn't disperse properly and I end up with very small chunks of fat.  With shaking I can literally get a 2 inch plug of cream reincorporated in the milk such that I can't tell the difference between that and fresher milk.

[G.Nat]

These are very helpful responses. Thanks!