Dairy is an important food group for
most people because it contains calcium
which helps strengthen the bones. Some
examples of dairy are milk, ice cream,
yogurt, and cheese. Cheese is made out of  milk
that came from cows, goats, sheeps, camels, etc.
is also made out of milk fat, cream, water, and
lactic acid bacteria which curds the
milk and makes the cheese more acidic.
Cheese is yellow because of the annatto  seeds
which is the food coloring. The pigment
in annatto has the same structure as
beta-carotene. Enzymes are needed to produce
cheese such as rennet, lactase, catalase,
lipase, and proteases. Lactase breaks down
lactose into sugars. Catalase is used in
Swiss cheese because it preserves
original enzymes from the milk that can
help improve the cheese flavor. Lipase
breaks down milk fats that can enhance
the flavor of the cheese. Protease breaks
down proteins in the milk. Rennet it is made
of different enzymes that can break down
the proteins and milk and comes from the
lining of the cow's stomach. It has enzymes
like rennin aka chymosin.
Renin is also an enzyme in rennet that came from molds
which gives the cheese a slightly bitter
taste and curdle the milk. These enzymes
are used to coagulate the milk which
allows the proteins to be digested in
the stomach. A protein that is found in milk
is casein. There are four types of casein,
alpha s-1, alpha s-2, beta, and kappa.
Casein is mainly hydrophobic but kappa
also contains hydrophilic components in
it which is later converted into
hydrophobic molecules by rennin. It is
important for casein to be converted into
hydrophobic molecules because it helps
traps fat and water molecules to produce
the curds. It also helps for water to be
removed when compressing and forming the
cheese. Another ingredient that is needed
is bacteria such as mesophilic bacteria
which is used in room temperature and
produces soft cheese and thermophilic
bacteria which is used in high
temperature and produces sharp cheese.
The bacteria can be separated into two
groups primary and secondary microflora.
Microflora are bacteria, small fungi,
and algae. Primary microflora contains
lactic acid bacteria that converts milk
to cheese the fermentation. Secondary
microflora our yeast and molds are used
for certain types of ripened cheese.
With all these ingredients, the milk
goes through a process called cheese
fermentation. During this process lactose
in milk is converted into lactate.
Cheese fermentation occurs due to the presence
of starter cultures of lactic acid
bacteria which contains enzymes to break
down the lactose and converted into
lactic acid. Fermentation happens after
glycolysis when there is no oxygen.
Pyruvate goes to fermentation and
oxidized NADH to continue the process of
glycolysis to convert NADH to NAD+ so
that it can be recycled which continues
glycolysis. Fermentation in cheese is
important because it preserves nutrients
increases the acidity which prevents
the cheese and milk from spoiling
quickly and growth of harmful bacteria.
The equation of cheese fermentation is
lactose + water = lactic acid.
The first step of cheese fermentation is
preparing the milk. You heat it up to kill
the harmful bacteria through the process of
pasteurization. This is the process of
heating a liquid to a certain temperature and
time then letting it cool down.
This causes the growth of bacteria and
cheese to slow down. The milk is then treated
with bacteria and rennet to convert the
lactose in milk produced the lactic acid
in cheese. The increase of acidity
decreases the pH level of milk which
causes the solidification of casein and
whey. Casein is a milk protein which
coagulates into curds which traps most
fats, calcuim,  bacteria, etc. Whey is a
liquid that contains water, proteins,
antibodies, and minerals which forms
during the coagulation of casein and becomes a
waste product. The second step of cheese
fermentation is separating the curds
from the whey. The addition of the enzyme
rennet will continue the separation of
curds and whey.
Rennit is mixed into the milk
and continues to separate the curds and
the whey. They're soaked with bacteria creating
a concentration of lactic acid. After,
salt is added to the curds which affects
the flavoring of the cheese. When the
curds are formed, it is cut with knives.
The size that the curds are cut affect
the texture and moisture of the cheese
when storing it. The third step of cheese
fermentation is pressing the curds. It is
first press gently to allow additional
way to be drained and then uses heavy
pressure to get the cheese a solid form
removing the moisture in the cheese. They
are then put into molds to give the
cheese a nice shape. The fourth step of
cheese fermentation is letting the cheese
age. Cheese is aged for a series of time
which can last for days, weeks, months, and
even years for it to ripen in a cool
environment, enhancing the taste of the
cheese. The average temperature
environment is 10 degrees Celsius.
Proteins, fats, and sugars continue to
change in the cheese by enzymes and
bacteria.
However, Swiss cheese holes due to the
P.Shermani bacteria. Using this bacterium will
produce CO2 in the cheese which creates
the holes.
This concludes the process of making
cheese. The energy that is used in
producing the cheese is heat energy used
to kill the pathogenic bacteria. Kinetic
energy is used to mix up the curds and
whey, and electrical energy is used to
cool down the cheese and use it for
machinery. The risk of eating cheese is
causing abdominal discomfort to the
people who are lactose intolerant. This
condition occurs when an individual does
not produce enough lactase enzymes in
their small intestine to break
down lactose. Symptoms are bloating,
cramps, diarrhea, vomiting, and rumbling of
the stomach. Lactose intolerant inindividuals
can take lactase supplements to help break
down lactose or they can avoid dairy
products. They can eat soy cheese because
it's not fermented and does not contain
dairy and lactose. The risk of producing
cheese is that dairy gets spoiled quickly
because it contains microorganisms in it.
Milk also contains many harmful bacteria
that can cause food poisoning.
Milking can get contaminated with cow manure,
bacteria from the cow skin, and
unsanitary equipment and machinery.
However, pasteurization is a method of
heating up the milk to decrease the
growth of pathogenic bacteria which
reduces the health risk but if the milk
is heated up to a very high temperature the
enzymes will denature and the milk will
not be able to convert into cheese.
Cheese is not beneficial to the
environment because it increases the
greenhouse gases in the environment by
the uses of factories, transportation, and
packaging of the cheese. Certain types of
cheese can also increase the CO2 levels.
Raising cows will increase the methane
to the manure. To decreases these effects
farmers are encouraged to change the
diet of their cows and to convert the
manure into electricity with the use of
methane digesters. Getting the milk is
considered torture for the cows
according to PETA, an organization that
campaigns for animal rights state that
female cows are constantly injected with
hormones and full of antibiotics that
can produce more milk. A PETA investigator
also stated that cows from dairy factories
are suffering and neglected due to
bleeding, hostile naming, and
electrocution.
Even though dairy production has
its disadvantages,
it also has its benefits. Cheeses
beneficial to society because it creates
many new job opportunities some jobs are
related cheese is becoming a chef, factory
workers, advertising, transportation,
bioengineering, etc.
Cheese also allows people to have more of a
variety of food and recipes like
cheesecake, mac and cheese, chips, pizza,
etc. And that concludes our video of cheese
fermentations. Thanks for listening!
You were a GRATE audience!
Don't let your CHEESY knowledge turn into
WHEYSTE!
