Cheese Ripening (Paperback)

High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Cheese ripening or alternatively cheese maturation is a process in cheesemaking. It is responsible for the distinct flavour of cheese, and through the modification of "ripening agents," determines the features that define many different varieties of cheeses, such as taste, texture, and body. The process is "characterized by a series of complex physical, chemical and microbiological changes" that incorporate the agents of: "bacteria and enzymes of the milk, lactic culture, rennet, lipases, added moulds or yeasts, and environmental contaminants." The majority of cheese is ripened, save for fresh cheese. Different factors define taste in cheese, including casein, fat, brine, and many other elements. Brine, as an example, mixes with saliva, delivering the flavour of the cheese to the taste buds and determining the cheese's moistness.