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Improving the Quality of Swiss Cheese by Clarification of the Milk¹

Division of Dairy Research Laboratories, Bureau of Dairy Industry, Agricultural Research Administration, U. S. Department of Agriculture

ABSTRACT

Experiments have demonstrated that clarification of milk produces a marked and consistent improvement in the quality of Swiss cheese. Studies were conducted of the properties of the cheese milk for the purpose of investigating the intermediate factors in the improvement in the cheese. Specific effects of clarification on milk include a decrease in the tendency of the fat to form aggregates upon standing, removal of a large proportion of the leucocytes from mastitis milk, an increase in the rate of multiplication of starter organisms and improvement in results of fermentation tests, an increase in concentration of oxygen and decrease of carbon dioxide, an increase in the rate at which the oxidation-reduction potential changes at 30° C., and a slight decrease in stability to alcohol.

Specific effects of the process on the properties of the cheese include a marked decrease in number and increase in size and uniformity of eyes, an increase in the firmness of the cheese and in the incidence of the glaesler defect, an increase in the rate of multiplication of starter organisms and of acid formation, a decrease in moisture content and in yield of cheese, and an increase in the fat loss in the whey.

The effects of clarification on properties of milk and on properties and quality of cheese were found to be diminished by clarifying the milk at a relatively low temperature and with a relatively slow bowl speed; they were increased by decreasing the rate of flow of milk through the bowl by one-half, and by increasing the temperature from 21° to 32° C. The beneficial effects of clarification of milk for cheesemaking were especially pronounced in the case of mastitis milk.

Of the intermediate factors in the improvement of quality of clarified milk cheese, those that appear most significant are a decrease in aggregation of the fat globules, an increase in oxygen and decrease in carbon dioxide, improvement in effectiveness of starters, and a reduction in leucocytes when present in large numbers.

¹ The cheesemaking phases of the investigations were directed by the late Kenneth J. Matheson, who was largely responsible for improvement in quality of domestic Swiss cheese by clarification. The introduction in the factories of the clarifying process, and also of the pure culture method, was accomplished largely by other former employees, including Sumner A. Hall, Robert E. Hardell, James A. Boyer, Robert E. Farrar, and Fred Feutz, and by H. R. Lochry of this Division.

² Deceased April 24, 1940.