Making Cheese

The basic principle involved in making all natural cheese is to coagulate or curdle the milk so that it forms into curds and whey.

Today's methods help the curdling process by the addition of a starter (a bacterial culture which produces lactic acid) and rennet the coagulating enzyme which speeds the separation of liquids (whey) and solids (curds). There are two basic categories of starter cultures.

	Mesophilic starter cultures have microbes that can not survive at high temperatures and thrive at room temperatures. Examples of cheeses made with these bacteria are Cheddar and Gouda.
	Thermophilic starter cultures are heat-loving bacteria. They are used when the curd is cooked to as high as 132ºF. Examples of cheeses made from these bacteria are Swiss and Italian cheeses.

The least sophisticated cheeses are the fresh, unripened varieties like Cottage Cheese. These are made by warming the milk and letting it stand, treating it with a lactic starter to help the acid development and then cutting and draining the whey from the cheese. The cheese can then be salted and eaten fresh. This is the simplest, most basic form of cheese.