What is Syneresis As It Pertains To Cheese?

There are some great items in the dairy group on the food pyramid. Yogurt is delicious, so is sour cream, but many people favor cheese. There is something is to be said for a food that millions of children refuse to have a meal with out. As a person who likes to make everything from scratch I've often wondered what goes into the process of curds and whey. What I've found is a lengthy, complicated process that consistently begs this food to be compared to wine. Both items seemed to dawn with earliest mankind and offer both the cheap, mundane types and those for connoisseurs.

Cheese was made as a way to make the nutrients in milk last longer and travel easier. It came about in a process of fermenting the milk in animal stomachs. The stomach contains an enzyme called rennet which helps with this process by making the proteins form together as curds and the liquid to siphon off as whey. What most people don't know about curds is that they aren't really a solid, but considered a solid gel. Though storing milk in bags made of animal stomachs is an outdated means, rennet is still needed in the multiple steps of cheese making.

Syneresis occurs during the main three steps used in making this food. These are: The growth of bacteria from the rennet causes the initial process of curds and whey. The separation of the liquid from the curds is called syneresis. The next step is using mechanical tools to stir the curd grains. The third step is simultaneous with the second, and it's a heat treatment to the curds.

Once these three major steps have been applied to milk, we have our cheese curds. The curds are then put into molds that can be made from wood, plastic or metal, and come in any number of shapes. Weight is used to press them into shape. The characteristics of the cheese are formed during the treatment and pressing stages, but the taste comes from its time ripening.

However delicate the flavor or variety is you can be sure there is a lengthy process involved with creating the product you enjoy with your crackers or veggies. The next time you're in the store considering which type may be best to bring home for your next dinner party, consider the years of tradition and the time involved in making even the most simple of cheeses.