cheese making

Cheese making is a way of preserving milk. The milk is preserved by increasing the acid content, removing moisture and adding salt. The end product — cheese — has a much longer life than milk.

The cheese making process involves:

• pasteurising the milk (heating to remove pathogens); 

• cooling down the milk; 

• adding lactic bacteria to the milk to start the fermentation process; 

• adding an enzyme called rennet to 'set' the solids in the milk; 

• separating the curds and whey; and

• salting and pressing the curds. 

Most of the hard work is left to the end of the day when  the cheese is shovelled into stainless steel moulds and lifted out of the vat. 

The full moulds weigh around 30kg each. These are loaded in to a press and left overnight to allow the small pieces of cheese to fuse and to remove even more moisture.

The next day, the fully formed cheeses are removed from their moulds and placed in wooden boxes or clothed. They can be stored in the maturing room for up to two years until the correct flavour and texture profiles are achieved.