ABSTRACT
Cheese is one of the first and most popular manufactured food products. What perhaps started out as an accidental curdling of milk has been further refined into cheesemaking. Over several thousand years, cheesemaking has advanced from an art to near science. Cheese varieties have proliferated to suit varied conditions and requirements, especially during the last decade or so. It is estimated that more than 2000 varieties exist (Olson, 1995), and the list may still be growing. Cheese is now an important part of foods consumed in many countries (Table 1.1). In a recent survey, after spices, cheese was named the top ingredient that makes cooks feel more creative (Doeff, 1994). Several cheeses satisfy varied requirements in order to be used as suitable ingredients in various dishes from baby foods to baked products (Table 1.2). Battistotti et al. (1984) described the history of cheese and cheesemaking in much detail. This chapter provides a broad overview of cheesemaking. For further details, readers are referred to many recent books on the subject (Scott et al., 1998; Spreer, 1998; Law, 1999; Walstra et al., 1999; Fox et al., 2000).
