Cheese and method for its manufacturing

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for making cheese wherein cheese is salted with a salting agent comprising milk minerals and NaCl or a mixture thereof. The invention also relates to ripened cheese having a ratio of K/Na of 0.39 to 4.0 and a K content of more than 0.08%.

1 . A method of making ripened cheese having a ratio of K/Na of from 0.45 up to at most 4.0, comprising one or more salting steps of cheese with milk minerals and NaCl separately in any order, wherein the one or more salting steps comprises brine salting, injection salting, dry salting, surface salting, salting of grains and pre-salting, or any combination thereof. 
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the cheese has a total amount of sodium and potassium in the range of 0.39% to 0.66%. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the cheese has a NaCl content of more than 0.81% up to at most 5.0%. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the cheese has a NaCl content of more than 0.81% up to at most 1.3%. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the milk minerals comprise, as a percentage of dry matter: lactose 2.4 to 50%, sodium 3.5 to 12%, potassium 0.5 to 35%, magnesium 0.1 to 1.5%, calcium 0.1 to 25%, and protein 8 to 20%. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the milk minerals are provided as a milk mineral concentrate obtained by a process wherein
 milk is subjected to ultrafiltration to provide an ultrafiltration permeate, 
 the ultrafiltration permeate is subjected to nanofiltration to provide a nanofiltration permeate, 
 the nanofiltration permeate is subjected to reverse osmosis to provide a reverse osmosis retentate as the milk mineral concentrate. 
 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6  wherein a dry matter content of the milk mineral concentrate is about 9% to about 40%. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 6  wherein a dry matter content of the milk mineral concentrate is about 16%. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1  wherein a concentration of NaCl is in a range of about 16% to a saturated concentration of NaCl. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1  wherein a concentration of NaCl is about 18%. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the one or more salting steps comprises brine salting. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11  wherein the cheese is first brine salted with NaCl followed by brine salting with the milk minerals. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 11  wherein the cheese is first brine salted with the milk minerals followed by brine salting with NaCl. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 11  wherein the cheese is first brine salted with the milk minerals, then brine salted with NaCl followed by further brine salting with the milk minerals. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 11  wherein the brine salting is carried out with milk minerals for 1 to 4 hours and with NaCl for 4 to 8 hours. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the cheese is subjected to brine salting and surface salting. 
     
     
         17 . Ripened cheese having a ratio of K/Na of 0.8 to 4.0, a K content of more than 0.08%, and a NaCl content of more than 0.81% up to at most 5.0%. 
     
     
         18 . The ripened cheese of  claim 17  wherein the NaCl content is more than 0.81% up to at most 1.3%. 
     
     
         19 . The ripened cheese of  claim 17  wherein the cheese has a total amount of sodium and potassium in the range of 0.39% to 0.66%. 
     
     
         20 . The ripened cheese of  claim 17  wherein the cheese comprises milk minerals comprising, as a percentage of dry matter: lactose 2.4 to 50%, sodium 3.5 to 12%, potassium 0.5 to 35%, magnesium 0.1 to 1.5%, calcium 0.1 to 25%, and protein 8 to 20%.