JPH04190740A - Ripened hard cheese and its production - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain the subject cheese, having a specific soluble nitrogen ripening degree index and specified stringiness and excellent in flavor and texture by heating a cheese so as to provide an ultimate temperature in cooking within a prescribed temperature range. CONSTITUTION:The objective cheese is obtained by using a raw material milk with <=3% fat content and a thermophilic bacterium starter as a lactic acid bacterium starter and heating the raw material in producing a ripened hard cheese so as to provide an ultimate temperature within the range of 43-55 deg.C in a cooking process. The aforementioned cheese has >=40cm springiness when the soluble nitrogen ripening degree index (soluble nitrogen/total nitrogen X100) is within the range of at least 15-25%.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a matured hard cheese that has excellent stringiness and can be maintained for a long period of time without deteriorating, and a method for producing the same.

[Prior Art] In recent years, the eating habits have become more Westernized, and the tastes of Japanese people are changing accordingly, and the demand for natural cheese is increasing year by year. Among them, Gouda type cheese in particular is considered to be the one most suited to Japanese tastes, as it has a unique mild flavor. Cheeses similar to this type include Edam cheese, Samso cheese, and cheddar cheese.

The above-mentioned cheeses are natural cheeses classified as mature hard cheeses, and the following typical manufacturing methods are known.

■ Raw milk processing step 2 Raw milk is sterilized and then cooled.

■ Lactic acid fermentation process: Add the desired lactic acid bacteria starter depending on the type of cheese and perform lactic acid fermentation.

■ Rennetting process: Calcium chloride and rennet are added to coagulate milk and produce carts.

■Cutting process: The cart is cut into desired sizes depending on the type of cheese to produce cart grains.

■Cooking E P1 = Heating and removing the whey discharged from the cart grains. It is usually done in three parts.

■ Matting process: The curd grains from which the whey has been discharged are deposited on a vat and the whey is discharged in a rough manner.

■ Molding process: The whey is discharged and the shrunken curd is crushed, packed into the desired mold, and pressed under the necessary pressure to form cheese.

■ Aging process Green cheese obtained through two or more processes (
Raw cheese) is aged under specified conditions to develop the unique flavor of cheese,
Adds texture.

Although some variations of the above series of steps are known,
It is mostly determined by the type of cheese during the long-standing cheese manufacturing process. This is because specific manufacturing conditions are required to impart a unique aroma, texture, and taste. In particular, cooking temperature conditions are important because fermentation reactions have a large effect on the tissue and chemical structure of cheese, and are relatively strictly controlled (pH, acidity, etc. are known as control indicators). . Note that for Gouda cheese, a salting process is provided after the molding process, and the cheese is immersed in salt water.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in these types of cheese, the stringiness tends to gradually deteriorate as the ripening progresses, and especially after 4 to 5 months of ripening, the stringiness tends to deteriorate. There is a problem in that the decline in sex is noticeable.

On the other hand, examples of cheeses that can maintain stringiness for a relatively long period include Emmental cheese and Gruyere cheese. However, these cheeses have a unique aroma and a strong taste, so they have not yet reached the point where they fully satisfy the tastes of ordinary Japanese people.

Here, stringiness generally refers to the degree of stringiness when cheese is heated, melted, and stretched, such as cheese used for pizza.

By the way, research on the mechanism of stringiness in natural cheese is currently not very advanced, and although it is expected that the raw materials used, manufacturing conditions, etc. have an effect, there are many unknowns. There are no known research reports on improving the stringiness of this type of natural cheese. As mentioned above, Gouda-type natural cheeses suit the tastes of Japanese people, and considering their cooking behavior, which involves cooking at the table, we have improved the stringiness of natural cheeses, mainly Gouda-type, and their characteristics. If it can be retained for a long period of time, it is expected that its commercial value will greatly increase.

In view of the above-mentioned state of the prior art, the present invention aims to produce a cheese with excellent stringiness that can maintain the stringiness of aged hard cheese, such as Gouda cheese, in good condition for a long period of time, and to produce the same. This provides a method to do so.

[Means for Solving the Problems] As a result of intensive research into the relationship between the production conditions of aged hard cheese and the stringiness of the resulting cheese, the present inventors have found that the temperature conditions, especially in the shoeing process, affect the structure of the cheese. The present invention was completed based on the discovery that effective changes can only be brought about in the protein network structure involved in stringiness.

In other words, by adjusting the temperature of the cart within a specific range, especially during the shoeking process in the manufacturing process mentioned above, it is possible to maintain good stringiness for a long period of time even as the cheese matures. It will become.

Therefore, the present invention is, firstly, a manufacturing method for improving stringiness, which involves heating so that the temperature reached in the packing step is in the range of 43 to 55°C in the manufacturing of aged hard cheese. A method for producing aged hard cheese with improved stringiness, characterized by:

Cheese with improved stringiness has unique properties, and the second aspect of the present invention is that cheese with improved stringiness has a stringency index of at least 15% to 25%. It is a matured hard cheese with a grindability of 40 cm or more, and also has a ripeness index of NPN/TN (non-protein nitrogen/
It is a bacterially aged hard cheese having a stringiness of 40 C- or more when the total nitrogen (X100) is in the range of at least 10 to 20%. The cheese of the present invention is distinctive in that it has almost the same aroma, texture, taste, and other physical properties as conventional cheeses of the same type, except that the stringiness has been effectively improved.

Here, the stringiness is evaluated according to the method below.

(Stringability test) 20 g of sample cheese is collected in a petri dish and melted by heating at about 90° C. for 1 minute. Next, this cheese was pulled up using a stringiness measuring machine at a speed of 10 cm/s, and the length (cm) of stringiness of the cheese was measured.

The present invention will be explained in detail below.

First, the cheese targeted in the present invention is aged hard cheese (hereinafter referred to as "cheese" unless otherwise specified).

That is, they are hard cheeses such as Gouda, Edam, Cheddar, Maribo, and Samso, which have a moisture content of about 40% or less, and do not include mold-ripened cheeses such as Rock Hall and Blue. This is because in mold-aged cheese, protein decomposition has progressed to a considerable extent, and the protein structure is almost completely destroyed, so stringiness is usually not a problem. The differences in the types of aged hard cheeses are due to differences in raw materials and the shape of the cheese during the manufacturing process, rather than differences in essential manufacturing conditions. For example, for Gouda and Edam, the raw milk fat amount is 5
The size of the cart particles in the cutting process, the shape of the mold in the molding process, the pressure, the salting process, etc. are different, and
The difference is that Gouda and Edam use lactic acid bacteria as a starter, while Gruère and Emmental also use propionic acid bacteria. In addition, although there are differences in the amount of rennet added, etc., the basic manufacturing conditions are the same. however,
Considering the preferences of general consumers, it is of industrial significance to apply the present invention to the Gouda type.

Therefore, the production method of the present invention basically consists of: ■ raw milk processing step, ■ lactic acid fermentation, ■ second step, ■ rennetting step, ■ katsudenku process, ■ katsuking process, ■ pine ink step,
This process includes a molding process and (2) a ripening process. Although there are differences in the detailed conditions in each step, these steps are almost common to all aged hard cheeses. The feature of the present invention is that among the above steps, the heating temperature conditions in the packing step are set higher than the normal range, and the other steps are carried out based on conventional methods.

Next, in order to facilitate understanding of the present invention, the conditions of a commonly performed sewing process will be explained using Gouda and Edam as examples.

Gouda Edam 1111th Dark Meeting Go G~31℃, 7~+03 Ui IJ
129~3◎”C, 10~203 Uii Yesterday 2nd stage:
1O → 3S℃ 25 minutes 29.34'C10~2f
i 3rd fi 35-39” C2 25el'lJl
34→38” C1 to 20fi reached temperature 3!rc
The reason why the heating is carried out in three stages, from the first stage to the third stage at 38°C, is to remove about 173 grams of whey after each stage in order to improve the efficiency of whey discharge.

In any case, the curd grains that have been coagulated and cut with rennet are not heated above a specified temperature in order to prevent inhibition of lactic acid fermentation. 37℃). If the lactic acid bacteria starter is affected by temperature and its activity decreases, the pH of the cheese will increase immediately after production because acid production does not proceed, and this is due to the heating temperature (
Hereinafter, this is referred to as "stucking temperature." ) becomes more pronounced as the value increases. Cheese with a high pH has a small amount of ionic calcium and has reduced thermal meltability, which affects the physical properties of the cheese when heated. Furthermore, the higher the cooking temperature, the harder the cheese tends to be. From this point of view, in the production of hard cheese, the cooking temperature was never set above 40°C. Incidentally, for ultra-hard cheeses such as Parmesan, the cooking temperature is raised to around 55°C, and for special dried cheeses, the cooking temperature is raised to 70-80°C. These cheeses have low moisture content and significantly increased hardness;
The manufacturing method itself is different from that of hard cheese in terms of wood quality, so it cannot be directly compared, but in general, when the cucking temperature increases, syneresis of the curd grains is promoted, dehydration from the curd progresses, and this has the effect of increasing the hardness of the cheese. It is generally known as a musical instrument.

On the other hand, stringiness has been studied exclusively from the perspective of changes in cheese over time, and it is well known that as ripening progresses, the network structure of peptide chains is severed and stringiness deteriorates. Therefore, even though stringiness is expected to be related to some structural properties of the cheese tissue, it is not clear what specific factors are involved.

The present inventors have discovered that the cooking temperature, that is, the temperature during the process of discharging whey from the curd grains, not only affects the hardness of cheese, but also has a large influence on stringiness. The effects on cheese structure caused by increasing the cooking temperature are summarized below.

1. Paracaseinate chain m via Ca that constitutes the tissue
#L unique dense structure! i (partially
network-structured Ca-pa
racaseinate 1 inch cheese). This structure is substantially involved in stringiness,
It is not the same structure that determines the hardness of cheese. That is, rather than the structure related to hardness becoming dense, the structure related to stringiness becomes dense. Hard cheese generally has a low moisture content, but the cheese of the present invention shows almost no difference from normal cheese in general analysis.

2. In cheese with the above-mentioned structure, even if protein decomposition occurs during ripening, the decomposition does not proceed on average as in normal cheese structures, and a considerable amount of relatively high-molecular fractions remain. As a result, the stringiness is sufficiently maintained even at the same ripeness.

It has been found that the above-mentioned unique Ca-paracaseinate crosslinked structure is not formed at the normally practiced cooking temperature of 38°C or lower, and does not manifest as an effective effect unless the cooking temperature is 43°C or higher. That is, at a sewing temperature of 43° C. or higher, molecular entanglement progresses to the extent that the ability to maintain stringiness is exhibited. On the other hand, in consideration of starter deactivation, poor curd binding during pressing, significant delay in ripening, etc., the appropriate range of the cooking temperature is preferably 55° C. or lower. That is, from the viewpoint of manufacturing similar cheeses and significantly improving stringiness, the temperature range of 43 to 55°C has a critical meaning.

However, if the temperature range exceeds the conventional shoeing temperature of 40 t, even a slight improvement in stringiness can be obtained, so it is possible to adjust the temperature within the range of 40 to 55°C depending on the case.

In this way, there was no prior knowledge that the chewing temperature qualitatively changes and almost determines the structural form of cheese related to stringiness, without having any significant effect on the physical properties related to other parts' likability. This was not the case.

According to the present invention, stringiness can be controlled by the shoeing temperature. When heated at the conventional temperature of 38° C., the above-mentioned strong structural form is not formed, so the structure is gradually destroyed as ripening progresses, and the stringiness deteriorates markedly accordingly.

In fact, when the cucking temperature was changed in the production of Gouda cheese, the shelf life of stringiness was 44°C at 38°C.
What used to be a few months can now be extended to 12 months at 55°C, for example.

Here, it should be noted that in order to form the dense crosslinked structure of baracaseinate by increasing the heating temperature during the cheese manufacturing process, it must be performed during the baking process.

That is, it is necessary to apply a predetermined heating to the cut curd grains, which are made of rennet, and the structure is constructed during the process of whey discharge from the curd grains. Furthermore, among the heating conditions, adjusting the sewing temperature is effective for generating a dense structure related to stringiness.

The sewing process according to the present invention can be carried out as follows.

The cutting process is carried out according to the type of cheese based on conventional techniques, and the obtained cart pieces of a predetermined size are first kept at a relatively low temperature (~30℃) for several minutes to several tens of minutes. Stir gently for a minute, remove some of the whey (about 1/3 amount), and start heating. Heating may be performed by adding hot water little by little while stirring, by passing steam through a jacket, or the like. Squeezing should be done gently to avoid crushing the curd grains, but depending on the target temperature etc.
It is best to perform heating at a constant heating rate of about 3 minutes.

Shoeking usually takes about 90 minutes. The whey may be removed twice during cooking or once at the end.

Further, the amount of whey removed may be the same as usual.

The final card obtained in the packing process according to the invention is virtually identical in appearance to the card obtained according to the prior art. That is, when the cooking temperature is high, dehydration from the surface of the curd grains is promoted, but at the same time, the rate of acid production is delayed, so as a result, there is no significant difference in the moisture value. The size of the cart grains is also approximately the same.

On the other hand, differences in cooking temperature conditions also affect the pH and thermal melting properties of cheese. When using a starter whose activity decreases at high temperatures, the pt+ of the cheese will vary depending on the cooking temperature immediately after production, and the higher the temperature, the higher the pH of the cheese immediately after production. Then, the pH gradually decreases, and after about a week, the difference due to temperature almost disappears, and after that, the pH becomes stable at a constant level.

The reason why the pH increases when the cooking temperature is high is because the activity of the starter decreases, and as a result, the desorption of Ca from Ca-baracaseinate becomes insufficient. Heat meltability is related to changes in pH; heat meltability is poor until pH stabilizes for approximately 1 week, but once pH stabilizes, heat meltability rapidly improves.

In other words, the thermal meltability of cheese is correlated with the amount of ionic calcium in the cheese, and as the pH of the cheese decreases and becomes stable after about one week of production, the amount of calcium increases.
The amount of ionic calcium increases as it deviates from a-baracaseinate, and when the amount of ionic calcium increases to a certain extent, the heat meltability of the cheese improves. This is why the heat meltability of cheese becomes high and stable after one month or more after production.

By the way, heat meltability is a prerequisite for exhibiting stringiness, and unless heat meltability improves beyond a certain level, good stringability cannot be obtained. Therefore, immediately after production, cheese has low heat melting properties and does not exhibit sufficient stringiness. Therefore, if the cooking temperature is increased, the thermal meltability of the cheese after production may be slightly reduced. However, this is not a wood problem. This is because it will naturally improve with the passage of time, and if the shelf life of the cheese is taken into consideration, the necessary passage of time will not be a problem in terms of product value.

Conventionally, the tightening temperature adjustment was defined only from the viewpoint of cheese hardness, thermal meltability, starter activity, etc., and stringiness was not considered at all, so an increase in the tightening temperature only had a negative effect. It was considered a thing.

However, the low heat meltability immediately after production can be improved by selecting and using a thermophilic starter that exhibits sufficient activity even at a relatively high temperature of about 55°C.

By using a thermophilic starter, the pH immediately after production becomes low and stabilizes quickly even if the cooking temperature is raised to a high temperature, resulting in improved heat melting properties and good stringing properties. Bacterial species used for such lactic acid bacteria starters include Str, Therm, which are resistant to high temperatures.
Str, d, which can grow even at high temperatures, such as S. ophililus.
Lactate, especially for high-temperature shoeing, such as urance.
, casei, Lact, bulgarius, L
Act, helveticum, etc. can be mentioned. However, even without using a thermophilic starter, Str, c
reIloris.

Str, Iactis, Str, diacetila
Cheese having sufficient stringiness retention ability can be produced using commonly used mesophilic starters such as Ctis.

Changes in the Ca-paracaseinate crosslinking structure during the cooking process also have an impact on the fat percentage of raw milk. That is, as the fat percentage decreases, the structure becomes more dense even under the same heating conditions. The preferred fat percentage of raw milk is 3.0.
% or less.

Next, the cheese obtained by the above manufacturing method will be explained.

These cheeses are characterized by a ripeness index STN/TN (soluble nitrogen/total nitrogen Nitrogen/total nitrogen x100)
is at least 10 to 20%, and the stringiness is 40 cm or more.

Here, stringiness of 40 cm or more in the range of STN/TN of at least 15 to 25% means that stringiness maintains 40 cm or more within the range, regardless of whether the stringiness tends to increase or decrease. However, for cheese made at a higher cooking temperature, the STN/TN is 25.
The stringiness at 15% is greater than that at 15%. In conventional cheese, even if the stringiness is 40 cm or more when the STN/TN is 15%, the stringiness rapidly decreases as the STN/TN increases, and therefore, when the STN/TN is 2.
In the range of 0 to 25%, stringiness of 40 cm cannot be maintained. On the other hand, the cheese of the present invention has an STN/TN of 20 to 2
Even within the range of 5%, the stringiness is well maintained and can maintain a length of 60 cm or more. Therefore, in a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the stringiness is 60% when the STN/TN is in the range of 20 to 25%.
0- or more.

The reason why STN/TN is set at 15 to 25% is that the degree of ripening in this range is important from the viewpoint of consumer preference, taking into account the aging process, distribution process, and shelf life. This is because it is meaningful. Furthermore, the reason why the stringability standard is set to 40 cm or more is that it is judged to be within the range required by the tastes of general consumers.

In addition, stringiness of 40 CI or more in the range of at least 10 to 20% NPN/TN means that the above-mentioned STN/T
It is synonymous with N. Similarly, in a preferred embodiment, N
Stringability is 60CI when PN/TN is in the range of 12-17%
It is 11 or more.

Setting NPN/TN to 10 to 20% has the same meaning as setting STN/TN to 15 to 25%.

Traditionally, cheese undergoes structural and flavor changes due to enzymatic, bacteriological, and organic chemical reactions due to aging, but during the aging process, the protein that makes up the structure of the cheese progresses and becomes soluble. As the amount of nitrogen and non-protein nitrogen increases, the molecular weight becomes lower, and as a result, the structural form involved in stringiness is destroyed, and stringiness deteriorates. In the cheese of the present invention, the structure involved in stringiness, that is, the Ca-paracaseinate crosslinked structure, is dense, so the pattern of proteolysis during ripening does not proceed uniformly, and relatively high molecular weight As a result of the fact that a considerable amount of the component remains, it exhibits excellent resistance to deterioration of stringiness, and the ability to maintain stringiness is greatly improved. This is in contrast to conventional cheese, which does not have a unique structural morphology, so protein degradation progresses relatively uniformly and the structure collapses quickly.

Furthermore, the cheese of the present invention is characterized by its flavor,
There is no substantial difference in characteristics other than stringiness, such as texture, from conventional cheese, which means that there is no difference in substance changes during the ripening process of flavor. That is, there is no significant difference in changes in the amount of soluble nitrogen, etc., and it is subject to the effects of various enzymes, etc. in the same way as conventional cheese. If there is a significant difference in the structure of the cheese, which is responsible for the firmness of the cheese, the state of moisture distribution will also be different, and the substance changes during the flavor fermentation process will differ, making it impossible to produce cheese with the same flavor, texture, etc. Contrast.

Here, if we divide the compositional structure of cheese into three parts: those that are involved in hardness, those that are involved in stringiness, and those that are involved in heat melting properties, those that are involved in hardness are those that are related to the structure of cheese. The denseness of the cheese (correlated with moisture content) and heat meltability are related to the amount of ionic calcium in the cheese (correlated with pH), while stringiness is related to paracasei via calcium. They differ greatly in that they are directly related to the compactness of the nate crosslinked structure. (Cheese that melts poorly can be said to be a problem before becoming stringy.) Heat meltability is a necessary condition for developing stringiness, but it is not synonymous, and even cheeses with no difference in heat meltability will become stringy. Differences may occur in the stringiness, and in particular, after the heat-meltability necessary for expressing stringiness is removed, the stringiness changes regardless of the value of the heat-meltability. Even in hard cheeses, if protein decomposition occurs relatively uniformly, stringiness deteriorates quickly.

As mentioned above, when the cooking temperature is raised, the thermal meltability immediately after production is not good. This is because the amount of ionic calcium is insufficient, and if the pH decreases over time and ionic calcium increases, there will be no good luck at all.
This in itself is not an essential problem; stringiness is related to heat meltability, and immediately after production, stringiness is insufficient and the stringiness tends to vine, but such a decrease in stringiness is also seen in conventional cheese. That's about it. Even conventional cheese has poor thermal melting properties immediately after production. However, with conventional cheese, after the thermal melting properties are improved, the stringiness starts to deteriorate as the cheese changes over time. The cheese of the present invention maintains excellent stringiness without causing deterioration of stringiness even after its thermal meltability is improved.

The cheese of the present invention does not differ from conventional cheese in general analysis values such as moisture content. The only difference is in the structural properties due to the Ca-paracaseinate crosslinked structure. The existence of this unique structure can be known by measuring the stringiness at the same soluble nitrogen content (%). The cheese of the present invention has effectively greater stringiness even though the values of both soluble nitrogen and non-protein nitrogen are the same as those of conventional cheese.

[Example] The present invention will be explained below with reference to Examples.

Example 1 Gouda cheese was produced in the following manner.

Milk with adjusted fat percentage (Fat-2.8% and 2.0%)
After sterilizing and cooling 150 kg (raw milk processing process), 30 kg
BD-C) 101 (Hansen) starter (Str, Cremoris, Str, Lact)
is, etc.), and after 60 minutes of pre-heating, lactic acid fermentation step) was added, and 0.003% of calf rennet (HR) was added.
The mixture was allowed to stand for about a minute (rennetting process), and then cut (the size of the cart grains was from azuki beans to soybean grains) (cutting process), and the following cutting process was carried out.

・Start heating after removing 1/3 amount of whey ・Achieved temperature: 3
3 types: 8℃, 43℃, 55℃ ・Heating rate = 1℃/3 minutes ・Heating time = 90 minutes ・After heating, remove the remaining whey and continue to reduce the pressure to pg (0.35Kg/cm2) L/
(Molding process) A cheese molding was obtained. Add this to 23% NaC
No. 11 aqueous solution for 2 hours to form a lintless type and ripen it. Aging conditions are temperature 10℃ and humidity 75-85%.
Met.

The results are shown in Tables 1 to 3 and FIG. Each numerical value was obtained in the following manner.

(Stringability test) 20 g of sample cheese is collected in a petri dish and melted by heating at about 90° C. for 1 minute. Next, this cheese was pulled up using a stringiness measuring machine at a speed of 10 cm/s, and the length (cm) of stringiness of the cheese was measured (the average of 5 times was taken as the length).

(Thermal Meltability Test) A sample (cheese cut into cubes with −15 cm sides) was heated and melted in an oven toaster (230° C.) for 2 minutes and 30 seconds, and the size (am) of the cheese after heat melting was measured.

(Measurement of cheese ripeness) (1) Sample solution: Collect 10g of cheese, add 0.5g of
Add 40 ml of N sodium citrate and 40 ml of distilled water, and after grinding for 5 minutes with a homoblender, transfer to a volumetric flask and add water to make a constant volume of 2,001 ml.

(2) Total nitrogen (TN): A 10 liter sample was taken and measured by the Kerbourg method.

(3) Soluble nitrogen (STN): 1 per 100 samples of sample solution
．． Add 10μl of 41N hydrochloric acid and mix with distilled water to 125ml.
The volume was adjusted to 1. The generated protein precipitate was filtered, and the filtrate 10
m1 was sampled and measured by the Kerbourg method.

(4) Non-protein nitrogen (NPN): Filtrate 2 of (3)
201 of 24% trichloroacetic acid was added to 0.0 liter, and after standing for 30 minutes, the resulting filtrate was collected and measured by the Kerbourg method.

As shown in Table 1, the cooking temperature was 43°C.

It can be seen that those heated to 55° C. and those whose fat content was further lowered to 2.0% have a good ability to retain stringiness and also have a longer shelf life of stringiness. In this way, by changing the packing temperature conditions and fat percentage, there are large differences in the stringiness depending on the ripening period, and basically by increasing the packing temperature, the stringiness of cheese can be maintained for a long period of time. It was possible.

Table 1 Stringiness [cal] On the other hand, stringiness changes with ripeness as shown in Figure 1 and Table 1, but by increasing the sewing temperature, good stringiness can be achieved even as ripening progresses. was able to hold. Specifically, according to the ripeness index Ill STN/TN, it is 43 to 55.
Cheese heated in the range of ℃ shows a good value of 40 cm+ or more in the stringiness test even if the STN/TN is 15% or more, and also shows a good value of 43 to 55 when defined by another ripeness index NPN/TN. Cheese heated in the °C range is NPN/TN.
Even when it was 10% or more, it showed a good value of 40C11 or more in the stringiness test.

Further, the results of pH and thermal meltability are shown in Table 21 and Table 3.

Immediately after manufacturing, the pH increases as the cooking temperature increases to 43°C and 55°C, but after about 1 to 2 weeks, the pH approaches the same value as when the cooking temperature is 38°C, and then increases slightly. The pH remained constant at 5.4. Although the heat meltability was insufficient immediately after production, it was approximately 1
It improved after a week, and maintained a stable good level after two weeks or more. Further, no significant difference was observed in general analysis due to the difference in cooking temperature (Table 4), and there was no difference in flavor or texture, and both were recognized as delicious bota cheeses.

Example 2 Defatted cheese was produced in the following manner.

Using skim milk as raw material skim milk (Fat 0.1%)
After sterilizing and cooling 150kg and the temperature dropping to 30℃ (
Raw milk processing process) 8D-CHOI (Hansen) starter (Str, Cremoris, Str, La
After pre-heating for 60 minutes, 0.003% of calf rennet (HR) was added and left to stand for about 30 minutes (rennetting process) to form a curd. After that, cutting (the size of the curd grains is about the size of azuki beans to soybean grains) (cutting process) was performed, and the following nailing process was performed.

・Start heating after removing 1/3 amount of whey ・Achieved temperature: 3
3 types: 8℃, 43℃, 55℃ ・Heating rate = 1℃/3 minutes ・Heating time: 90 minutes ・After heating, remove the remaining whey and then press for 2 hours and perform the molding process to mold cheese I got something. This was immersed in a 23% NaCl aqueous solution for 2 hours, and aged as a lintless type. As a result, the results shown in Table 5 regarding stringiness were obtained. The higher the cooking temperature is, 43°C and 55°C, the longer the stringy shelf life and the more appropriate the hardness of the tissue. Ta.

Table 5 Stringiness [Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the present invention, it is possible to control the stringiness of the IJ by adjusting the shoeing temperature, and it has an appropriate stringiness that matches the preferences of the consumer group. It becomes possible to appropriately manufacture aged hard cheese.

Furthermore, the obtained cheese has the same flavor and texture as conventional cheese, except for its excellent stringiness retention ability, and the technology of the present invention is very useful in the cheese industry. Aruu

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a graph showing the relationship between ripening and grindability of the cheese obtained in Example 1 of the present invention, (a) is a graph with STN/TN removed as the degree of ripeness, and (b) is a graph showing the relationship between ripeness and grindability of the cheese obtained in Example 1 of the present invention. Ripeness is expressed as NPN/TN. Patent applicant Snow Brand Milk Products Co., Ltd.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Ripeness index STN/TN (soluble nitrogen/total nitrogen x 10
0) is at least 15 to 25%, and the stringiness as defined below is 40 cm or more. (Stringability) 20g of sample cheese was collected in a petri dish, heated and melted at approximately 90°C for 1 minute, and then this cheese was pulled up at a speed of 10 cm/s using a stringiness measuring device. Length of string (cm). 2. Ripeness index NPN/TN (non-protein nitrogen/total nitrogen x 1
00) is at least 10 to 20%, and the stringiness is 40 cm or more. 3. The aged hard cheese according to claim 1, which has stringiness of 60 cm or more when the ripeness index STN/TN is at least 20 to 25%. 4. Claim 2, wherein the stringiness is 60 cm or more when the ripeness index NPN/TN is in the range of at least 12 to 17%.
The aged hard cheese described in . 5. The aged hard cheese according to any one of claims 1 to 4, which is classified as Gouda cheese. 6. A method for producing aged hard cheese with improved stringiness, characterized by heating the aged hard cheese so that the temperature reached in the cooking step is in the range of 43 to 55°C. 7. The method for producing aged hard cheese according to claim 6, wherein raw milk having a fat percentage of 3% or less is used. 8. The method for producing aged hard cheese according to claim 6, which is classified as Gouda cheese. 9. The method for producing aged hard cheese according to claim 6, wherein the lactic acid bacteria starter used is a thermophilic starter.