The term “soft cheese” covers fresh cheese types which are mainly acid coagulated (“acid cheese”) by use of lactic acid bacteria.
Low-fat or non-fat soft cheeses are sold under names like Quark, Quarg, Skyr, Tvorog, etc.
In contrast to traditional “rennet or curd cheeses” whose processing and ripening may be disturbed by whey proteins, migration of whey proteins into soft cheese is advantageous as it may improve the water binding capacity and firmness of the cheese. Furthermore, the syneresis will be reduced and the yield will be increased.
In order to achieve a sufficient degree of denaturation of the whey protein, the optimum pretreatment is therefore high-temperature pasteurisation (ie. pasteurisation at min. 87°C for 15 min.). High-temperature pasteurisation can be omitted if ultrafiltration technology is applied. Fat standardisation must be performed downstream of the concentration in order to reduce fat losses through the whey.
In low or non-fat soft cheese products a positive texture modification can be achieved by adding microparticulated whey protein produced on GEA Filtration’s path-breaking MICRO FORMULA Module. Dosing of eg. 5% MICRO FORMULA microparticulated whey protein into concentrated Quarg will lead to a texture and mouth feel corresponding to a fat content of 30-40% F.i.D.M.
The manufacturing process itself is relatively simple; low-fat soft cheese products are produced in many different varieties around the world, but the main processing steps are identical. Pasteurized skimmed milk is fermented and concentrated to the desired total solid content in eg. a Quarg separator or in a ultrafiltration plant. Subsequent to concentration various ingredients can be added, eg. fat, herbs or jam.
The below processing parameters are general guidelines and should only be considered as such.
Processing Sequence