Cheese | Salting of Cheese

Abstract

Salt concentration (%, w/w) in cheese ranges from ∼0.7 in Swiss to 6 in Domiati. Salt acts as a preservative and directly contributes to flavor. In addition, it influences cheese composition, microbial growth, enzymatic activity, biochemical changes and casein hydration during ripening, and cheese quality. Cheese curd is salted by brine salting, involving the immersion of molded cheese curds in brine for ∼0.5–8 days, or by dry salting whereby dry crystalline salt is mixed with the milled/broken curd pieces for 10–30 min before molding/pressing. The migration of salt into cheese and the concomitant outward movement of moisture occur by a pseudo-diffusion process. The pseudo-diffusion coefficient (D*) of salt in cheese moisture (S/M) ranges from ∼0.1 to 0.4 cm2 day-1, being influenced by cheese composition and salting conditions. On completion of brine salting, there is a decreasing S/M gradient from the surface to the center of the cheese, and an increasing moisture gradient in the same direction. These gradients disappear over time, with S/M equilibrium being eventually achieved throughout the cheese within ∼10 days to 4 months. In contrast, though S/M is fairly uniform within dry-salted cheeses at 1 day, small variations in concentration may occur and persist.