Manufacturing Outlines and Applications of Selected Cheese Varieties 293ture than cream cheese. Neufchatel cheese
has a minimum fat content of 20%, but its fat
content cannot exceed 33% by weight of the
fi nished food. The maximum moisture
content of Neufchatel cheese is 65%.
The dairy ingredients for cream and
Neufchatel cheese are milk, nonfat milk, or
cream used alone or in combination. Other
ingredients approved by the FDA include
rennet, salt, whey, concentrated whey, dried
whey, or reconstituted whey prepared by
addition of water. Stabilizers, in a total
amount not to exceed 0.5% of the weight of
the fi nished food, may be used. Stabilizers
may contain dioctyl sodium sulfosuccinate in
a maximum amount of 0.5% of the weight of
the stabilizer used. The dairy and other ingre-
dients are blended to standardize the mix for
fat content.
Cream Cheese with Other Foods
“ Cream cheese with other foods ” is another
class of foods prepared by mixing, with or
without the aid of heat, cream cheese with
one or a mixture of two or more types of
foods (except other cheeses) in an amount
suffi cient to differentiate the mixture from
cream cheese. The maximum moisture
content of the mixture is 60% by weight and
the minimum milk fat is 33% by weight of
the cream cheese and in no case less than
27% of the fi nished food. Foods permitted
include properly prepared fresh, cooked,
canned, or dried fruits or vegetables, meats,
relishes, and pickles. Stabilizers are permit-
ted at a level not to exceed 0.8%, with or
without the addition of dioctyl sodium sulfo-
succinate in a maximum amount of 0.5% of
the weight of the stabilizer(s) used. Colors
are also permitted.
Cream Cheese Process : The manufactur-
ing procedures for cream and Neufchatel
cheese are similar. Several processes, includ-
ing ultrafi ltered mix, are used to produce
cream cheese. Typically, the process involves
standardizing cream to 11% to 15% fat, fol-
lowed by pasteurization at 68 ° C to 70 ° CSNF. A fortifi ed skim milk containing 12%
SNF should give 21.6 kg of curd/100 kg of
the starting material.
Quarg/Quark Cheese: This category of
European fresh cheeses contains multiple
levels of fat and moisture. Their manufactur-
ing procedure resembles that of cottage
cheese. Skim milk is pasteurized at 62 ° C
(144 ° F) for 30 minutes, cooled to 32 ° C (90 ° F),
and inoculated with 5% starter consisting of
Lactococcus lactis ssp. lactis/cremoris. In
four to six hours, the pH drops to 4.8 and a
coagulum is formed. The curd is broken by
stirring and cooked slowly to 50 ° C to 52 ° C
(122 ° F to 126 ° F). The initial heating rate is
only 0.5 ° C/5 minutes and the total cooking
period is around 90 minutes until fi rm curd
is obtained. The curd may be washed with
chilled water (10 ° C; 50 ° F) to eliminate acid
fl avor. The curd is collected by centrifugation
in a Quark separator and cooled by immersion
in cold water for 15 minutes. The dried curd
is blended with pasteurized, homogenized
cream of 18% fat to achieve the fat target of
4% to 8% in the fi nished product. Bakers ’
cheese is also a variant of quark.
Cream and Neufchatel Cheese: Cream
cheese is an important variety in North
America. During 2007, cream and Neufchatel
cheese production in the United States
exceeded 772 million lbs (USDA, 2008).
Cream cheese is mostly used as a spread and
as an ingredient of cheesecakes. At present,
cream cheese is marketed in fl avors such as
strawberry and other fruits. It is also fl avored
with vegetables, condiments, spices, and
herbs. Low - fat versions are available as well.
It is a popular spread on bagels and toasted
bread. Cream cheese contains at least 33%
fat and not more than 55% moisture. It is soft,
unripened, lactic - acid - coagulated cheese,
made by a process similar to that for cottage
cheese. It has a mild acid and creamy fl avor
with buttery aroma.
Neufchatel cheese is also soft uncured
cheese but contains lower fat and more mois-