Milk, UHT - Using To Make Cheese

Started by Cheese Head, May 23, 2010, 01:10:34 PM

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Cheese Head

Most people would say that in general, for making cheese UHT, Ultra Heat Treated for pasteurization is the worst. But some members don't have access to raw or regular store bought pasteurized and homogenized, but do to UHT milk (some info here on pasteurization temperatures).

New member Nic recently attended a one day class on making cheese in New Zealand, where plenty of raw and store milk is available yet the teachers intentionally used UHT cow's milk to make Yogurt & Quark and UHT Cream (which I have not seen before, only Ultra-Pasteurized Cream) to make Mascarpone.

Anyone have thoughts/ideas on this?

paradoxbox

I have no thoughts or ideas but I would absolutely love to hear some information on this. I live in Tokyo and while there is non UHT milk available it is hideously expensive at around 2.70$ per litre or 10.22 per gallon. yikes. the UHT stuff I have found for a reasonable price of 1$ per litre.

linuxboy

UHT is fine for lactic-coagulated cheeses. In fact, it will make for a thicker set. So cultured dairy products turn out well, like yogurt, buttermilk, cultured cream, fil molk, quark, tvorog, etc.

paradoxbox

yeah but there are only a few types of cheeses that can be made that way, not very fun.

is there any way to mix cream or something with UHT milk to be able to make rennet cheeses?

MarkShelton

I think it would work out better with UHT cream and non-UHT milk, sorry to say.

I am not an expert, and I'd wait for Linuxboy for a definitive answer, but this is what I'm thinking:
If you were to categorize whole milk as a mixture of milk and cream, rennet would react with molecules in the milk portion, not the cream portion. While the cream has milk in it, it is mainly fat, which is very important for flavor and texture, but it is the composition of the milk that allows for the structure of a cheese.

While UHT milk and non-UHT cream would be better than UHT milk alone, I'm not sure it would work much better for rennet cheeses.

What do you think LB? Am I close?


linuxboy

#5
Yep :). The heat treatment damages caseins, making it more difficult for them to bond. Adding any amount of UHT milk to any type of milk handled normally will affect cogulation time and strength. Your curds will simply be too weak to hold together. They may set, but when you start heating and stirring, they will not be strong enough to hold together. There's a good chance you could still make some types of rennet cheeses that are very dry, like a parmesan, but it won't be exactly the same.

paradoxbox

parmesans are fantastic news for me, parmesan is unbelievably expensive here, if i could get a parmesan out of UHT milk i'd be thrilled.

it's still a bit sad though since if i make cheese out of the low temp pasteurized milk available here it's only marginally cheaper than buying the fresh mozzarella balls from the supermarkets. oh well!

MarkShelton

I don't think you can put a price on the satisfaction you will receive  ;D

Primo Amore

Hi l`ve used UHT cream 400 ml`s  to make Mascarpone cheese before.You just heat the UHT cream to 45 c and then add the juice of 1 lemon then leave in a sterilized jar at 30 c for 1 to 2 days. this works out very good.