SALTING CHEESE

SALTING CHEESE

The salting is to improve the taste, the digestibility and durability of cheeses and regulating their maturation. Only some unripened species and eaten fresh are salt only before consumption. All maturing cheeses are usually salted after shaping and draining from the whey; exceptionally, it is only salt in the fluff and then it forms. Salting is sometimes long and continues during the maturation period of the cheeses, sometimes even for years. This is salting.

With salting, we can to some extent regulate the amount of moisture in the cheese and it is faster or slower according to the amount of salt absorbed and the time spent on it.. And because not only the supply of moisture but also salt, along with its concentration, affects the life of bacteria, therefore we have a middle in the method of salting, which we can, to some extent, influence the course of cheese maturation.

Some paracasein compounds are more or less soluble in a 5% salt solution and gain flexibility in it. Some, again, with an excess of free acid, are insoluble in this solution and are brittle. Thus, by regulating the acidity and amount of salt accordingly, we influence the required flexibility of the cheese. Moderate salting reduces its brittleness, on the other hand, it is increased by excessive salting due to the loss of moisture.

The process of seeping salt into the cheese and the simultaneous leakage of the liquid to the outside is diffusive and osmotic in nature., the original weight of the hard cheeses is reduced by 5 do 6% due to fluid loss, and the loss of weight of soft cheeses as more watery and more porous than hard cheeses is even greater.

Diffusion and osmosis occur differently in terms of time, intensity and range, mainly depending on the environment, in which it takes place, depending on salt concentration and temperature. The moist and porous cheese flesh facilitates diffusion, osmosis and a strong concentration of salt that acts continuously and is a brake, as well as too low temperature.

Excessive brine concentrations quickly clog the pores of the outer cheese layer, at the same time it inhibits the outflow of liquids. The rind hardens and becomes brittle. It is true that the salt concentration in the different layers of cheese may level out over time, especially when the supply of brine is interrupted externally, but with regard to the uniform course of fermentation of the cheese, this is the point, that the concentration is equalized in time. In this respect, dry salting works more gently and evenly in salt absorption than in brine.

Even under normal conditions, the seepage of salt into the cheese is slow. In small Edam cheeses weighing 2,20 kg according to Dutch research, the salting process is as in the table below.

To be at the peel in the middle of the radius in the center of the sphere
taken out of the brine 5,67 % alone 2,07% alone 0,37% alone
po 6 weeks 3,50 3,21 2,85
po 4 months 3,39 „ 3,17 3,20

Thus, even in small cheeses, the alignment of the salt only comes to an end afterwards 4 months.

Fine-grained salt should be used for salting the cheeses, dry and clean, free from foreign additives and contaminated. Some types of soft cheeses require fine salt. In this withIn the event, we first dry it in the oven and grind it with a grinder or rub it with a rolling pin.

The salt consumption is approx 6% weight of raw cheese, however, it is sometimes smaller or larger depending on the method of salting. In mature cheeses, the salt content is on average approx 2,5% and it varies within limits 1 do 4%, if the cheese is neither over-salted nor unsalted.

Soft cheeses, prone to rapid maturation and loss of their original salt form, tend to be stronger than hard cheeses. So, for example, Camembert, Limburg and Quartirolos contain approx 3% table salt, ementalskie, parmesans, cheddar approx 1,8%, Gouda, edamskie, lechickie, Trappists, Tilsit 2,4%, roque-fort 3,5%, fresh bryndza 1,8%, scout quargles 3,2%, dry herbal 6%.

Currently, the consumer prefers moderately salted cheeses over highly salted cheeses. There is a certain right in this, because salt should not obscure the proper taste sensation, that cheese makes, especially, when it comes to the consumption of young, mild cheeses, which is the custom nowadays.

For other reasons, strong salting is sometimes necessary again. So cheeses too soft, prone to flatulence or likely to be stored longer, salt itself more strongly than usual under normal conditions.

Salting is done dry, in solution or in fine particles, finally, the combined method. Salting in brine is the most convenient, or broths (from suckers), as this operation requires the least amount of work. However, in terms of the amount of salt consumed, there is only a small difference between the three methods of salting.

The salting season usually begins after the cheeses have been taken out of the mold and drained, the period lasts, depending on the size and hardness of the cheeses, from 1 hours to 5 days, not counting salting in some tough species, which takes the product much longer.

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