Tasty, convenient, versatile, cheddar is one of the most produced cheeses in North America.
In a fast-expanding cheese market, in 2023 almost four billion pounds of cheddar cheese were produced in the US alone.1 And it’s easy to see why cheddar ticks all the boxes for consumers. From its sensorial qualities and versatility across multiple eating occasions, cheddar is perceived as a natural snack, available in convenient formats.
And as cheddar ripens and ages, it develops new, more intense flavors and interesting texture characteristics, offering scope for cheese manufacturers to work in custom profiles and put their own stamp on it.
“Cheddar is such a versatile cheese,” says Annie Mornet, Senior Business Product Director Cheese, IFF. “By targeting specific consumers, segments, and occasions, we still see room for growth. Cheese manufacturers can build in the desired finished flavor profiles – nutty, savoury, sweeter notes – to create cheddars that can be used in multiple ways to target and delight the customer's cheese profile.”
For manufacturers, there is potential to leverage this, and position cheddar as adaptable to a variety of consumer needs, with a wide range of applications across the board, from table cheddar and snack packs to culinary haute cuisine and gourmet burger slices.
Challenges for cheddar manufacturers
Producing cheddar is an intricate process. From pasteurizing, acidifying, and coagulating the milk to cutting, stacking and turning the curds to expel the whey, the cheesemaker must navigate a series of steps to achieve consistency of flavor and a clean-cut texture, without risk of waste or production delays.
And because time is key, the benefits of ripening cheddar over a shorter period of time is more cost effective, as long as quality is not compromised.
A key component in the cheddar-making process is the lactic acid bacteria culture used to inoculate the milk. This plays a crucial role in developing the cheddar’s flavor and texture because it directly influences the acidification of the milk at the start of the process. The culture can also prevent undesirable attributes such as bitterness from developing during ripening, and helps maintain quality during the aging process.
“There are a number of factors that are important in the production of cheddar. The curd handling is crucial for flavor, texture, and shelf life, as it involves the separation of curds and whey. Salting is also key for both flavor and shelf life. And the cheddaring process needs to be handled well,” says Mornet. “But the initial acidification must be consistent, as this can directly impact the finished texture and flavor.”
So what can go wrong with the acidification process?
Eliminating variability and maintaining consistency
Acidification occurs thanks to the activity of live bacteria in the culture. To acidify the milk, the bacteria need to be alive and functioning. Something that can impact this process is phage attack. Phages are naturally occurring viruses that can infect and destroy the lactic acid bacteria, leading to major losses for the cheesemaker.
“A phage attack will impact an entire batch,” says Mornet. “Either all your milk will go to waste, or you will not achieve the ideal sensorial characteristics in the cheese.”
Managing and maintaining phage at low levels in a cheese production is crucial to prevent acidification problems. A significant part of phage management can be directly implemented in dairy plants by following adapted hygiene and manufacturing practices. Additionally, having access to a reliable culture range offering highly phage-robust rotations is essential to ensure culture performance even under phage pressure. These rotations must also be isofunctional to maintain consistency in acidification from one rotation to the next.
The role of enzymes for ripening
During ripening, enzymes that are present in the milk and in the bacteria break down proteins into peptides and free amino acids. These, in turn, help to develop the flavor and texture of the cheddar, an important part of the ripening process.
“Because some key flavor compounds are metabolised from amino acids, they are essential to the final flavor and key characteristics of cheddar cheese,” says Mornet.
“Different cultures deliver different end results. Because the culture is one source of enzymes that break down peptides into individual free amino acids that can contribute directly to flavor or be turned into volatile organic compounds, using the right culture is essential not only for acidification but also for the ripening of the cheddar.”
A bacteria culture to enhance production
CHOOZIT® Vintage by IFF is an easy-to-use direct-to-vat starter culture that helps cheddar manufacturers obtain premium well-balanced flavor and prevent bitterness and acidity. It features the perfect rotation program of blended mesophilic and thermophilic direct-to-vat cultures, which ensures equivalent acidification performances, and is designed to enhance savoury flavor notes with no bitterness while producing highly reliable pH, flavor and texture results throughout the ripening process.
CHOOZIT® Vintage also provides robustness against phages for optimal lactic acid bacteria action to optimize cheese production, in turn boosting process and resource efficiency, resulting in a higher and more stable product quality over the entire shelf life. This helps cheddar manufacturers minimise production waste and cool storage times, all while optimizing the cheese aging process.
The aging process – texture and taste consistency
CHOOZIT® Vintage is specifically designed to accelerate the aging process, allowing cheddar to develop its typical richer flavors over a shorter period of time. The phage robustness of the range of cultures also help to reduce food waste by preventing product loss due to acidification failure and by increasing efficiency in cheese conversion. Consistent rate and extent of acidification will guarantee the same texture is obtained from one day to the next and limited post-acidification (or superior pH stability) over aging will protect the cheese texture for conversion. Promoting a shorter ripening time can be more sustainable, too, effectively cutting carbon emissions and energy usage along the entire supply chain for a lower environmental impact, adds Mornet.
“Ripening cheddar is carried out in a controlled, cold-chain environment, so speeding up the ripening time means a reduced energy consumption. IFF’s CHOOZIT® Vintage is designed to develop optimal aged cheddar flavors”.
Figure 1 (above) shows the consistency of the CHOOZIT® Vintage rotations in a cheddar manufacturing process, helping to achieve consistent cheese composition vat to vat, day to day.
Figure 2 (above) shows the evolution of cheese pH during the storage of cheddars produced with a market alternative (commercial culture) and two rotations of CHOOZIT® Vintage. The cheeses were stored in identical conditions. At 180 days, it was observed that the pH of the cheddar made with the commercial culture dropped below pH 5.00, and at 270 days the pH of the two cheddars produced with CHOOZIT® Vintage rotations remained above 5.00.
“Acidification during storage is not a desirable characteristic in cheese as it ripens,” says Mornet. “So, the CHOOZIT® Vintage cultures maintain the pH above 5.00 over aging into 180 days and throughout the whole process is a key indicator for a good quality aged cheddar.”
As part of the same analysis, bitterness and free amino acid levels were also assessed (Figures 3 and 4). With the commercial culture, the bitterness level of the cheddar throughout the entire aging, and specifically at the end stage at 270 days, was much higher than that identified in the cheddar made with CHOOZIT® Vintage, and the levels of free amino acids in cheese made with CHOOZIT® Vintage were higher during aging, which indicates faster flavor development.
“Without the bitterness, you have room to savour all of the other magical flavors from the cheddar – you can really focus the other great characteristics of the cheese,” says Mornet.
Technical expertise for a range of applications
While CHOOZIT® Vintage is a great fit for early and more consistent flavor development, we offer other solutions to answers different needs of the cheese manufacturers. IFF is committed to supporting customers with additional products, designed to work in harmony with CHOOZIT® acidifiers. Our cultures are ideal for customers wishing to differentiate flavor and texture profiles of their products. IFF also offers a range of bioprotective cultures called HOLDBAC®, designed to combat risks in the cheese making process by reducing the growth of non-starter lactic acid bacteria (NSLAB) that can also be naturally present in the environment.
“The HOLDBAC® cultures can support all types of dairy because they create a competitive environment that prevent undesirable microorganisms. They also offer a natural and clean label solution,” says Mornet.
As the popularity of cheddar cheese shows no sign of slowing down, manufacturers achieving well-balanced flavors and optimal texture are set to win. By leveraging access to the most effective cultures and the right scientific and technical support, the more they will transform challenges into growth opportunities, now and in the future.
References
1. US Cheddar Cheese Production. USDA.
