The invention relates to a method of making natural cheese with a flavor ferment to tune flavor attributes.

A fast and efficient process to manufacture milk curd by direct chemical acidification with acid. The process comprises the steps of heating the milk to a temperature sufficient to pasteurize the milk, cooling the milk, coagulating the milk with the addition of an acid, and incubating the milk and acid mixture for a set period of time. The resulting curd may be employed in the manufacture of different varieties of cheese to which it is subjected to additional steps of salting, molding and/or pressing.

The invention relates to a flavor ferment for use in a natural cheese make process.

The invention provides natural cheese and a method for making natural cheese with specific texture attributes.

The present invention relates to a method for the manufacture of a cream cheese, the method comprising: (i) providing a first dairy liquid; (ii) fermenting the first dairy liquid to form a first acidified dairy liquid; (iii) providing a second dairy liquid; (iv) acidifying the second dairy liquid with citric acid to form a second acidified dairy liquid; (v) combining the first acidified dairy liquid and the second acidified dairy liquid to form a cream cheese.

The present invention relates to a method for the manufacture of a cream cheese, the method comprising: (i) providing a first dairy liquid; (ii) fermenting the first dairy liquid to form a first acidified dairy liquid; (iii) providing a second dairy liquid; (iv) acidifying the second dairy liquid with citric acid to form a second acidified dairy liquid; (v) combining the first acidified dairy liquid and the second acidified dairy liquid to form a cream cheese.

The invention provides natural cheese and a method for making natural cheese with specific texture attributes.

The present invention relates to a casein concentrate wherein the milk protein comprises not more than 10% serum protein, and wherein the casein micelles have an average size of less than 175 nm in diameter; and wherein the concentrate has a pH below 6,7. Treating milk so as to shift the equilibrium out of the casein micelles and towards the serum phase modifies the micelles so as to allow increased water binding by the casein concentrate. High shear processing also allows for the increased water binding in the milk product, such as cheese. The invention further relates to a process of preparing a modified casein concentrate comprising the steps of treating milk by microfiltration to produce a microfiltration retentate comprising casein micelles and a reduced amount of serum proteins compared to the starting milk, adding an agent capable of modifying the chemical equilibrium between the calcium bound in the casein micelles and present in the serum phase treating the resulting product in a dynamic high pressure shear process. Finally, the invention provides cheese and dairy products which can be prepared by using the casein concentrate of the invention.

The invention relates to a process for dephosphorylation of skim milk, ultra-filtered milk (UF milk) or micellar casein isolate (MCI) comprising (i) acidification of a skim milk, UF milk or MCI preferably not lower than pH 6.0, preferably between 6.0 and 6.7, (ii) cooling the acidified skim milk, UF milk or MCI to the temperature between 0 C. and 15 C., (iii) adding gluconate and/or maleate to the cooled skim milk, UF milk or MCI and, (iv) washing the skim milk, UF milk or MCI, to remove phosphorus, thus dephosphorylating the skim milk, UF milk or MCI, preferably to an extent that the total phosphorous content of the skim milk, UF milk or MCI is reduced with at least 20%, preferably 20-40%, more preferably 30-40% compared to the material provided to step (i). The invention also relates to dephosphorylated MPC, MPI or MCI obtainable by the process of the invention, and to a liquid heat-sterilized enteral nutritional composition comprising 2.0-3.0 kcal/ml wherein 16-35 en % is provided by protein, the combination of caloric content and relative protein caloric content selected such that there is 10-18 g/100 ml protein, preferably 12-18 g/100 ml protein in the composition, wherein the protein comprises micellar casein (MC), whey protein (WP) and optionally caseinate (CAS), wherein there is at least 70 wt % MC and less than 15 wt % WP, based on total protein content, and wherein the composition has a total amount of phosphorous less than 192 mg/100 ml and/or 30-80 mg/100 kcal, preferably at least 30-80 mg/100 kcal, most preferably less than 192 mg/100 ml and 30-80 mg/100 kcal.