Cream cheese contains at least 33% fat and at most 55% moisture. It is a soft, immature cheese with lactic acid coagulated using technology like cottage cheese. It has a soft, sour and creamy flavor with oily flavor. The production procedures are similar for cream and Neufchatel cheese, but the Neufchatel cheese contains 23% fat compared to the 35% fat content in the cream cheese. Cream cheese is an important variety in North America. In 2000, Neufchatel cream and cheese production in the US exceeded 331.8 million kilograms. Cream cheese is mostly used for spread on pretzels and toast or as a component in cheesecakes. Cream cheese is currently sold with flavors like strawberries and other fruits. It is also seasoned with vegetables, spices, spices and herbs. Low oil versions are available in cream cheese processing.
Production Procedure
Various processes are used to make cream cheese. Typically, the process involves standardizing the cream to 11% oil followed by pasteurization with a combination of time and temperature (eg 68 ° C / 30 minutes) like conventional pasteurization. Lactococcus lactis ssp. lactis / cremoris 5-6% cream are planted for 5 hours at 30 to 30 ° C. sp. gives an oily aroma. In some plants, yeast is added at a low rate. The fermentation in cream cheese processing is continued until the pH is 4.4-4.5. In a conventional cream cheese processing, the cultured cream is poured into muslin bags, hanging in a cold room overnight. However, most modern plants are equipped with centrifuges to remove whey. Cream cheese accumulates in a bowl. Membrane processes are also used to separate the serum. The cheese is then packed with cold packaging without additives and heat. Cream cheeses in cold packs have aroma and taste and have no sticky body than a product in hot packs. However, there is no long shelf life obtained using the more commonly used hot packaging procedure. This procedure involves heat treatment of cream cheese in a boiler or surface changer. The cream cheese is mechanically mixed with a stabilizer (0.35% acacia bean gum) and 1% salt and adjusted to 70 ° C. The hot mixture is homogenized at 13.8 MPa and transferred to a packaging machine for hot packaging. Hot treatment provides a shelf life of at least 2 months.
To easily sterilize the equipment, fill your cheese container with water, add a thermally safe dipping equipment, place the lid on the pan, boil and boil the water and leave it for at least 15 minutes. As in canning, canning and baking, cleaning is also important in cream cheese processing.