CHEESE & CHEESE VARIETIES

There are more than 400 varieties of cheese  produced throughout the world, created by

differences in milk source (geographic district or mammalian species), fermentation and

ripening conditions as well as pressing, size and shape.  Most of the cheese types that are

produced today originated many centuries ago within smaller communities and are thus

named, for example, Camembert and Brie from France, Gouda and Edam from the

Netherlands, Cheddar and Cheshire from England, Emmentaler and GruyËre from

Switzerland, Parmesan and Gorgonzola from Italy, and Colby from the USA; others are

named for some aspect of their manufacture, e.g. Feta from Greece, processed cheese (best

known as the cheese slices that go on hamburgers) from the USA, and Mozzarella from Italy;

other names are more generic, e.g. cottage cheese from the USA.

THE NEW ZEALAND CHEESE INDUSTRY

New Zealand is the second largest exporter of cheese in the world.  We manufactured more

than 250 000 tonnes (equivalent to 250 million 1 kg blocks) of cheese from 2.5 billion litres

of milk in 1997.  Over 200 000 tonnes of this was exported.  Nearly half of the cheese

produced was Cheddar-type, with the remainder being Mozzarella (for pizzas), Gouda and

Egmont, as well as many other varieties. Closely related products such as yoghurt, cottage

cheese and cream products are also manufactured, mainly for local consumption.  Much of

the cheese exported from New Zealand is sold for processed cheese (fast-food outlets), as an

ingredient cheese for the fast-food market (pizzas), for cheese powders (flavours for snacks,

soups etc.) and for cheese sauces.

The general manufacturing protocol for most cheese varieties is outlined

Mozzarella

Mozzarella is one of several pasta filata or stretched curd cheeses that orig-

inated in Italy. The name pasta filata refers to a unique plasticizing and texturing treat-

ments of the fresh curd in hot water that imparts to the finished cheese its characteristic

fibrous structure and melting properties. Mozzarella cheese made from standardized buf-

falo milk with 3 and 1.5% fat. The effect of coagulant types (calf rennet, chymosin and

Mucor miehei rennet) on the cheese properties was carried out. 

Material and methods. Fresh raw buffalo milk and starter cultures of Streptococcus sal-

varius ssp. thermophilus and Lactobacillus delbrueckii ssp. bulgaricus were used. The co-

agulants were calf rennet powder (HA-LA), microbial rennet powder (formase ISOTL

from Mucor miehei) and chymosin derived by fermentation (CDF). Milk, curd, whey,

kneading water and cheese were analysed. The slab gel electrophoresis patterns of Mozza-

rella cheese were also applied. Statistical analyses were also applied on the obtained data. 

Results. Recovery of DM of both curd and cheese decreased in case of using Mucor mie-

hei rennet while the recovery of TP and fat content in both curd and cheese and their loss

to whey and kneading water were nearly the same. Soluble nitrogen and soluble tyrosine

and tryptophan contents elevated with increasing the storage period.

Approximate composition of milk from various species of mammals.

	Fat	Casein	Lactose	Albumin	Ash	Water
Animal	%
Cow	3.75	3.0	4.75	0.4	0.75	87.3
Goat	6.0	3.3	4.6	0.7	0.84	84.5
Ewe	9.0	4.6	4.7	1.1	1.0	79.6
Camel	3.0	3.5	5.5	1.7	1.5	84.8
Buffalo	6.0	3.8	4.5	0.7	0.75	85.0

Variation in the fat content of different portions of cow milk.

	Cow A	Cow B	Cow C
Portion	%Fat
First	0.9	1.6	1.6
Second	2.6	3.2	3.2
Third	5.3	4.1	5.0
Strippings	9.8	8.1	8.3

The effect of temperature on the growth of bacteria in milk.

Temperature (o C)	10	15.5	21	27
After 24 hrs	10 000	39 000	10 M*	48 M
After 48 hrs	15 000	7.7 M	990 M	1470 M

Milk with 6400 bacteria incubated at different temperatures.

*M = Million

Nutrients in cheese and other foods, per 100 g of food.

Food	Protein (g)	Fat (g)	Calcium (mg)	Iron (mg)	Thiamin(mg)
Cheese
Cheddar	26.0	33.5	800	0.5	0.04
Cottage	13.6	4.0	60	0.1	0.07
Yoghurt	5.0	1.0	180	0.09	0.09
Bread
Wholemeal	8.8	2.7	23	2.5	0.26
Egg	12.3	10.9	52	2.0	0.09
Potato	2.1	0.1	8	0.5	0.11
Butter	0.4	82.0	15	0.16	0

Some cheese varieties made in Africa.

Name of cheese	Type	Country	Raw materials
Aoules	Hard	Algeria	Goat milk
Ayib	Curd	Ethiopia	Buttermilk
Braided	Semi-hard	Sudan	Cow, goat or sheep milk
Mudaffara	Semi-hard	Sudan	Cow milk
Country cheese	Hard	Nigeria	Cow milk
Fromage	Semi-hard	Madagascar	Cow milk
Fromage blanc	Soft	Madagascar	Skimmed milk
Gybna	Soft	Sudan	Cow, goat or sheep milk
Mashanza	Soft	Zaire	Cow milk
Wara	Soft	Benin, Nigeria	Cow milk
Wagashi	Soft	Several countries, e.g. Mali, Nigeria and Benin	Cow milk
Cow	milk
Wagassirou	Soft	Benin	Cow milk