Food or edible material: processes – compositions – and products – Processes – Separating a starting material into plural different...
Patent
1990-10-01
1992-01-21
Yeung, George
Food or edible material: processes, compositions, and products
Processes
Separating a starting material into plural different...
99454, 99456, 425 85, 425311, 426512, A23C 1900
Patent
active
050826816
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
This invention relates to the production of finished moulded blocks of cheese from prepared cheese curd.
In one method of producing moulded cheese blocks in common use, a curd and whey mixture formed in a cheese vat and buffer tank is pumped into a tower where the curd is pre-pressed under the whey by gravity for approximately fifteen minutes, the whey being continuously drained from the tower, and the pre-pressed curd is discharged into loose moulds which are then transported to cheese presses. The curd is pressed in the moulds for a period of time between thirty minutes and ten hours, depending on the type of cheese being produced, to consolidate the particles of curd into blocks of cheese which are then discharged from the moulds to either holding moulds or directly into a brine bath or into water. Use of this method on a commercial scale requires a large number of moulds and pressing machines, and each mould has to be washed before being refilled with cheese curd.
Another method of producing moulded cheese blocks comprises draining off the loose whey from a curd and whey mixture to leave dry curd, salting and mellowing the curd, feeding the curd into the top of a perforated column maintained at a sub-atmospheric pressure to form a pillar of curd therein, lowering the pillar of curd so that the lower end thereof extends into a forming chamber, cutting off the lower end of the pillar of curd by a guillotine blade to deposit a mass of curd in the forming chamber, compressing the mass of curd against the guillotine blade to form a block of cheese, and ejecting the block of cheese from the forming chamber. The block of cheese produced by this method is very friable and difficult to handle. It is therefore common practice to wrap the block in film material and then package the wrapped block in a cardboard or wooden container convenient for handling while the cheese is maturing in storage.
The object of the invention is to provide an improved method and apparatus for producing moulded cheese blocks from curd which may be cheddared, milled, granulated, salted, mellowed, mixed with an additive, or given any other desired treatment known in the art, depending on the type of cheese to be formed from the curd. Such curd will hereinafter be referred to for convenience as prepared cheese curd.
According to the present invention there is provided a method of forming a block of cheese from prepared cheese curd, comprising feeding the prepared curd into a tubular perforated column so as to build up a pillar of curd in the column with the curd being fed onto the top of the pillar, the curd in the lower portion of the pillar being compressed by the weight of superimposed curd to press out whey therefrom through the perforations in the column, extracting air and whey from the column so as to maintain a sub-atmospheric pressure therein during the feeding of the curd into the column, severing the lower end of the pillar and depositing the mass of curd severed from the pillar into a cheese mould below the column, and compressing the mass of curd in the mould at a pressure of at least 4 bar for sufficient time to consolidate the mass of curd into a block of cheese with a rind firm enough to permit handling of the block of cheese after ejection from the mould.
The method of the invention arose from the discovery that, when cheese curd particles are assembled under vacuum to form a mass of cheese curd and the cheese curd then subjected to a high pressure of at least 4 bar in a mould, the pressure between the cheese curd and the walls of the mould tends to form the outer layers of the mass of curd into a rind or skin in a short period of time. The minimum period of time for forming a rind which provides any desired firmness to a block of cheese depends, inter alia, upon the nature of the cheese curd, the degree of sub-atmospheric pressure in the column in which the curd particles are assembled, and the compressive force exerted on the curd in the mould, but can readily be determined by trial and experiment. The mass of curd in t
REFERENCES:
patent: 4237781 (1980-12-01), Charles
patent: 4539902 (1985-09-01), Brockwell et al.
Barlow Peter B.
Christiansen Ole M.
Alfa-Laval Cheese Systems Limited
Yeung George
LandOfFree
Method and apparatus for producing moulded cheese blocks does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Method and apparatus for producing moulded cheese blocks, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Method and apparatus for producing moulded cheese blocks will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-114527