Cheese Ripening: An overview of technological strategies towards process acceleration

Abstract

Cheese is one of the fermented foods characterized by its many different flavor, texture and aroma. Ripening is a crucial technological step in cheese manufacturing, constituting a cascade of biochemical events, that confer unique sensory attributes. This chapter will deal with the identification of technological strategies designed to accelerate cheese ripening by means of ripening profiles studies and sensory characterization . The principal contributions for these are the physical treatments applied to cheese-milk or to the final product, the use of exogenous enzymes and the design of primary and adjunct starters. The present chapter will review the current knowledge of these methods focusing on hard and semi hard cheeses, for which a slow ripening period is necessary to achieve the desired product quality. In this context, ripening acceleration has gained importance in order to diminish costs. We will discuss the strategies’ advantages, limitations and their potential commercial applications.