Text box 1.Traditional cheese-making methods that are used today in different parts of the world
Gourds in Africa
(Figure 3A) – Gourds, used in Africa to collect milk from cows, also serve as containers for making butter and cheese. Once milk is collected, the gourd is placed in a warm environment for the milk to ferment and coagulate.
Stinging nettles in Pyrenees
(Figure 3B) – Although frequently dismissed as weeds, stinging nettles are plants that are rich in iron, calcium, and vitamin C. Additionally, stinging nettles possess antiviral, antifungal, and antibacterial properties (11). In the Pyrenees, collected milk is passed through sieves containing stinging nettles to decrease contaminating microorganisms and to allow coagulating enzymes to diffuse from the nettles into the milk.
Ceramic tools
(Figure 3C) – Ceramic devices continue to be used for cheese-making along the Mediterranean, in the Middle East, and in parts of Central America. Chemical analysis suggests that ceramics or unglazed pottery found in what is now Poland served as cheese-making tools dating back nearly 7000 years ago (12).
Wooden tools
(Figure 3D) – Wooden tools have been used for centuries by traditional cheese-makers. These utensils include wooden vats, spoons, cream separators, molds for cheese-shaping, and shelves for cheese-ripening. Many cheese-makers think that wooden tools enhance the quality of their cheeses (1). For example, Ragusano cheese is produced primarily by farmers in eastern Sicily and requires the use of a wooden cheese vat (also known as a “tina”) and a wooden staff (also known as a “ruotula”). The natural microbiota of raw milk and the wooden vat and ruotula are all used to make Ragusano cheese (1, 13).
No starter culture
For centuries and in some traditional cheese-making facilities today cheese was/is made without adding commercial starter cultures. Not only is this method more cost-effective, it also produces a cheese that more closely reflects the land from where the milk was collected (1). Cheeses made without added starter culture encompass traditional rennet coagulated cheeses that rely on natural milk microbiota to achieve the fermentation of lactose to lactic acid. If fermentation does not proceed quickly enough, this process can enable unwanted spoilage organisms to grow rapidly and overtake the process. Another technique involves adding pure acid(s) as a “non-starter” culture technique, avoiding reliance on microorganisms altogether. Paneer is an example.
From: FAQ: Microbes Make the Cheese
FAQ: Microbes Make the Cheese: Report on an American Academy of Microbiology Colloquium held in Washington, DC, in June 2014.
Washington (DC): American Society for Microbiology; 2015.
Copyright 2015 American Academy of Microbiology.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
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