Curd cheese, like any food, can have higher or lower nutritional value, which besides the quality of the input "raw material" also depends on how it is made.
We asked Ing. Petr Kočiš, head of dairy production in Sabinov, about the process of producing excellent SABI curd cheese.
• Is MILK-AGRO really the only producer of curd cheese by the traditional method?
I wouldn’t say the only one, because there are several small producers who also make it by this or similar technology. But it is true that commonly available curd cheese made by large producers has different parameters than curd cheese made by the traditional method.
• What does the traditional method mean?
The classic, traditional production of curd cheese is production by so-called sour coagulation. Live dairy cream culture is added to the milk and the milk is left to ferment at a temperature of 21 – 28 degrees Celsius, during which milk proteins coagulate forming curd cheese.
• Why exactly this temperature?
This is the ideal temperature for the growth of mesophilic bacteria, i.e. lactic acid bacteria ("lactobacilli"). At this temperature, microorganisms multiply and simultaneously convert lactose (milk sugar) into lactic acid, which causes coagulation of milk proteins forming curd cheese.
• So far we have everything alive… What follows?
The milk is then heated to a temperature of 38 – 40 degrees Celsius, at which the curd cheese solidifies and is then strained, meaning separated from the whey. • We still have everything alive. What next? Packaging? Yes, in this classic production the product is packed immediately after reaching the required dry matter content.
• Are preservatives added to increase shelf life?
Absolutely not. Shelf life is extended by the cleanliness of the entire production process and also by protective atmosphere, which is a mixture of nitrogen and carbon dioxide. The mixture is concentrated because oxygen is undesirable there. After packaging, the curd cheese is placed in a cooling room where it is gradually cooled to 8 °C. This is the classic production of curd cheese. Even in small dairies it is made by this or a similar method.
• So by this method we keep the curd cheese "alive" throughout its shelf life?
Yes, curd cheese produced and packed this way has a shelf life of 15 days.
• And the fact that the curd cheese is full of healthy lactobacilli, that its original enzymes and proteins are preserved, is its main difference compared to industrially produced curd cheese?
Yes, although the beginning of production is the same, somewhere they add a small amount of rennet. But the main difference is that after coagulation they heat it up to 60 °C, at which beneficial bacteria for humans are destroyed. Although the curd cheese solidifies better because then it goes to the so-called curd centrifuge, where the curd cheese is separated from the whey, such centrifuged curd cheese is so-called "dead" curd cheese. Another disadvantage of industrially produced curd cheese is the dry matter content. Its content is a maximum of 17%. The customer thus buys much more water. We produce soft curd cheese which has a dry matter content of at least 23%.
• But this is rarely talked about…
This is exactly what is misused in marketing. Only the content of curd cheese is stated, but it is not stated what kind of curd cheese it is and how much dry matter content it has. So "alive" and "dead" curd cheese. This should be talked about more.
• Thank you for the explanation.
