Cheese ripening

Cheese ripening is a slow and consequently an expensive process. It us a biochemical process which takes place under physical, microbial and enzymatic conditions. A nearly tasteless raw cheese is converted into a smooth, tasty finished product having characteristics properties.

The expense of cheese ripening arises principally from the inventory cost associated with holding a large amount of cheese in storage and the capital cost of providing a ripening facility adequate to hold sufficient cheese during ripening.

Traditionally, cheese was ripened in caves or cellars, probably at 15-20°C for much of the year.

Since the introduction of mechanical refrigeration for cheese-ripening rooms in the 1940s, the use of a controlled ripening temperature has become normal practice in modern factories.

Ripening usually involves the softening of cheese texture, as a consequence of the hydrolysis of the casein matrix, changes in the water-binding of the curd and changes in pH.

Cheese reacts by a hydrolytic denaturation through various stages, which can take place simultaneously, proceeding until the stage of basic molecules, i.e. amino acid.

During ripening, cheese flavor develops due to the production of a wide range of sapid compounds by the biochemical pathways.
Cheese ripening