DEVELOPMENT OF YEASTS DURING PRODUCTION A ND RIPENING OF HARZER CHEESE (YELLOW CHEESE TYPE)

In order to get an overview of the yeast flora of acid curd quarg and ''Harzer cheese'' (yellow cheese type) during production and ripening, to gain a better knowledge of their tasks during the manufacturing- a nd ripening process and to derive, if possible, defined formulae for t he addition of yeasts from it to avoid faulty fermentation acid curd q uarg and ''Harzer cheese'' were examined qualitatively and quantitativ ely during the individual stages of ripening and storage. During stora ge and transportation of acid curd quarg a continuous increase in yeas t numbers from 103 to approx. 107 cfu/g was observed. Then, a further increase to approx. 108 cfu/g occurred on the cheese. In the surface l ayer of the cheese higher counts were established than in the centre. After storage for a longer period of time a decrease in yeast numbers was observed. The number of detectable yeast species was highest im me diately after the manufacture of acid curd quarg. It decreases not onl y during the manufacturing process, also the dominating yeast species are subjected to changes. Whilst in the beginning mainly Kluyveromyces marxianus, Trichosporon beigelii, Candida krusei and Dekkera anomala were detectable in the acid curd quarg, it was, above all, only T. bei gelii and Candida catenulatawhich were found in the early stage of che ese ripening. Finally only the species Candida lipolytica could still be identified.