Soft Cheese

It was the use of separators that enabled soft cheese to be produced on a large scale. GEA Westfalia Separator has done pioneering work in both separator design and the ongoing development of production processes.

To ensure that soft cheese production is efficient and economical, GEA Westfalia Separator is still focused on the continued development of machines and process lines.

Soft cheese is the protein from vat milk, precipitated by acidification or combined with proteolytic enzymes and the variety-specific quality and quantity of the serum that has not been separated. Soft cheese does not undergo a maturing process after production and, in principle, can be enjoyed immediately after being produced. Legislation stipulates pasteurization of the vat milk using a certified pasteurization process. For technological, nutritional and economic reasons, supplementary heat treatment is required to produce soft cheese.

This is a low-fat quark primarily produced in the USA and Eastern European countries, with a dry matter of 22 – 24 percent.

Quark contains substantial amounts of essential amino acids. Because of the high valuable protein content, calcium and phosphorous and the low calorie content, low-fat quark for example is very important in dietary treatments. The high temperatures and corresponding holding times for the unacidified skim milk and the resulting complexing between casein and dairy proteins give the quark a high proportion of nutritionally valuable dairy proteins. This is the basis for increased yields and reduction in the specific use of skim milk when using the thermo quark process.

Cream cheese is a soft cheese with a fat content of 40 to 50 percent fat in dry matter. The total dry matter is at least 36 to 39 percent. In terms of structure and taste, it is similar to double cream cheese. The initial product is pasteurized, standardized milk with max. 3.5 percent fat.

Double cream cheese is a light, paste-like, spreadable cheese with a slightly tangy taste. It is a soft cheese with a fat content of at least 60 percent FDM and a total dry matter of 44 to 46 percent. The initial product for double cream cheese is normally a standardized, pasteurized milk with a fat content of 8 to 13 percent.

Learn more about our solutions for the production of

• Soft cheese
• Cream cheese and double cream cheese
• Thermoquark and baker‘s cheese