Date of Award:

8-1934

Document Type:

Thesis

Degree Name:

Master of Science (MS)

Department:

Nutrition, Dietetics, and Food Sciences

Department name when degree awarded

Nutrition and Food Sciences

Committee Chair(s)

A. J. Morris

Committee

A. J. Morris

Abstract

The flavor, quality and composition of market brick cheese varies greatly. Its moisture content often ranges from 37 to 43 per cent. The flavor may be similar to Limburger or it may even resemble that of Cheddar. Such a great variation in a specific food product tends toward disappointment for the consumer.

It is believed that a more uniform standard of quality for this product is needed to materially increase its consumption. Therefore, a detailed study of some of the factors involved in the manufacture of brick cheese may help to improve the quality and aid in determining a satisfactory standard.

As a result of investigation by the writer and some preliminary experimentation this work was confined to a study of salt and moisture control in brick cheese through methods of salting and cooking.

The control of moisture content was studied from the methods of both cooking and salting. The curd from two lots of the same milk was cooked at a high and a low temperature. One lot was cooked at 108° F. and the other at 115° F. The curd in each lot was divided into four equal bricks. A brick from each lot was then placed in a 25, 20, 15, and 10 per cent brine solution respectively. The bricks were left in the brine for 48 hours then as near as possible ripened by the same method.

The salt investigations were made then through a comparison, using the four different salt concentrations, with their effects on the flavor or score of the cheese, moisture content, salt content and yield.

It is believed that if suitable salt and moisture standards can be determined the quality of the cheese may be substantially improved. With the quality more uniform a most interesting study of the bacterial development should be the next logical investigation.

In the analysis of the experimental cheese manufactured, a comparison of the most practical methods for the determination of moisture, fat, and salt content was also made.

The preliminary work included studies of the most desirable humidity for satisfactory ripening, a comparison of the dry and brine salting methods, and considerable work in the comparison of effects produced in the cheese by varying the concentrations of salt in the brine.

In standardizing methods of manufacture before starting the research on cooking and salt concentration, a study of the bacterial development of the cheese was a keenly interesting phase of this preliminary work. The replacement of the streptococcus organisms by bacillus organisms was considerably more rapid than was expected.

A fairly large, almost club-shaped bacillus organism was consistently observed to appear very prominent between the fifth and eighth day after the cheese was taken out of the brine. The increasing prominence of this organism seems to parallel the gradual development of the characteristic brick cheese odor and flavor, and leads one to believe that there are possibilities of eventually isolating organisms that will develop desirable flavor and possibly shorten the time required to ripen this type of cheese. This belief was considerably strengthened after the surface growth of a well developed cheese was transferred to a green undeveloped cheese just out of the brine. The time required for the development of this inoculated cheese was considerably shorter than cheese of the same lot that developed without the inoculation. This phase of the subject could not be studied further due to lack of time.

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