What are the most favorable conditions to keep the fat in the curd and to minimize transferring to whey? While making hard cheese especially, I am seeing too much fat separated on whey surface. I know I need to cut and stir the curd gently and heat it up slowly but is there anything else that should be considered? Is anybody using Na-caseinate to retain fat in curd?
Thanks,
Tan
I was finding that a lot of cream separated out of the milk when I heated the unhomogenised milk for cheesemaking. My neighbour is a technologist at the local milk factory and suggested that I should try heating the milk in the bottles in a waterbath (my big stainless saucepan) rather than pouring it directly into the saucepan, and take it up to between 38 - 40 degrees C (body heat), then give the bottles a really vigorous shake before pouring it into the vat. This encourages the cream to dissolve back into the milk from where it has separated out during standing. Then you can cover the vat and let it settle back to the starting temperature you want for your culture. I've been doing this now for a while and I even whisk it a little with a wire whisk if necessary when I pour it into the vat. It doesn't totally eliminate the separation problem but it mixes in fairly well I find that I lose a lot less cream than I used to during the production process.
I just made Colby yesterday using full-fat raw milk. When I turned it in the press this morning, I noticed some butterfat clinging to the interior sides of the mold.
When I milled the curds, they felt a bit cool, so I put them back in my kettle and stuck the kettle inside a sink full of hot tap water to warm them up a bit, hoping for a better knit. I'm thinking now that I may have heated them a bit too much.
I know that when making mozzarella, if you squeeze the curd when kneading and stretching it, you will lose a lot of cream. Those curds need to be treated gently, especially when heating them up.
I top stir the milk at the beginning and after adding the rennet. I think this helps a lot.