A PROCEDURE FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF CHEDDAR CHEESE UNDER CONTROLLED BACTERIOLOGICAL CONDITIONS AND THE EFFECT OF ADJUNCT LACTOBACILLI ON CHEESE QUALITY

Cheesemaking techniques suitable for the production of Cheddar cheese under controlled bacteriological conditions, with the objective of stu dying the influence of selected strains of lactobacilli on cheese qual ity, are described. In each of two trials, a control (containing only the starter Lactococcus) and an experimental (containing the starter a nd low numbers of selected Lactobacillus spp.) cheese were made under controlled bacteriological conditions. Low numbers of wild lactobacill i grew in the control cheese but Lactobacillus counts in the experimen tal cheeses were generally 3 to 5 log cycles higher than in the contro l. The addition of Lactobacillus adjuncts to the cheesemilk significan tly improved flavour intensity and acceptability and altered the patte rns of proteolysis, principally with respect to increased formation of free amino acids. The cheesemaking technique used facilitated study o f the influence of low initial numbers of added lactobacilli on the qu ality of Cheddar cheese.