The present invention relates to a composition suitable for preparing a dairy product comprising at least one starter culture and a Lactobacillus rhamnosus strain capable of imparting onto the dairy product and enhanced creamy flavor without affecting the rheology negatively, the fonnentation time or the post-acidification of the dairy product. The present invention further relates to processes for preparing a dairy product, such as a low-fat yoghurt or cheese, which has a high content of diacetyl. A Lactobacillus rhamnosus strain useful for preparing such dairy product is also part of the present invention.

A process for the production of cheese is suggested, comprising or consisting of the following steps: (i) providing milk; (ii) coagulation of the milk while adding starter cultures and/or rennet material; (iii) separation of the coagulated milk of step (ii) into whey and curd; (iv) processing the whey obtained in step (iii) with fine curd particles contained therein into a stable suspension; and (v) further processing of the curd obtained in step (iii) into cheese, characterised in that (a) before the separation of whey and curd, the process contains a further step, wherein milk is subjected to filtration and/or bactofugation, obtaining a bacterial concentrate and a treated milk; (b) the bacterial concentrate obtained in step (a) is sterilised, and the sterilised bacterial concentrate is re-added to the treated milk; and (c) the suspension produced in step (iv) is either added to the bactofugate obtained in step (a), or is added to the sterilised bacterial concentrate obtained in step (b).

The invention relates to a method for preparing a partially cooked cheese product, as well as the partially cooked cheese product itself. The method appears applies specific times and temperatures to produce a pliable, carbohydrate free cheese product, which is free of carbohydrates. The product can be used, for example, as a carbohydrate free all cheese bread substitute in sandwich wraps or other applications.'

A method is for manufacturing brine-salted cheese with a homogeneous salt distribution and/or organic acid distribution and/or eyes distribution and/or texture on one axis of the cheese. The method includes, before a brining, applying a hydrophobic barrier on the entire outer parts of the cheese, which are located at the ends of the cheese axis. The hydrophobic barrier is kept on the cheese outer parts at least during part of the brining.

A process for manufacturing semi-hard cheese, wherein skimmed milk enriched in fat and proteins, but depleted in lactose is subjected to coagulation without the need for pre-drainage of whey and any washing operations.

Provided is a homogeneous composition comprising protein, wherein at least 1 wt % of a total protein content is bacterial protein: and a carrier selected from the group consisting of water, oil and a combination thereof, wherein a total protein content in the composition is at least 25 wt % or wherein the composition comprises at least one animal protein and a total protein content in the composition is at least 5 wt % of the total composition. Further provided are food ingredients and food products comprising the composition.

An industrial production process for making matured hard cheese involves collecting and storing milk in a tank, separating the milk through pre-heating and centrifugation to produce cream and skimmed milk with approximately 0% fat content. The process includes eliminating spores and bacteria from the skimmed milk through bactofugation, followed by titration of the bactofugated skimmed milk. Cream recovered from the separation step is pasteurized, pre-heated to 65 C., cooled to 35 C., and added back to achieve a 2.8-3% fat content. The process continues with addition of rennet and whey starter, cooking in vats to obtain a cheese mass, molding the mass into wheels, salting the wheels, and maturing the wheels. The resulting cheese contains no preservatives and has reduced salt content.

The present invention generally relates to aspartic proteases (EC 3.4.23) for producing cheese.