Science behind cheese-making

Another webinar conducted at the e-KLESF was “How to make your own cheese” on 16 December 2020 which was hosted at Zoom and shared through Facebook. Speaking at the webinar was UTAR Centre for Foundation Studies of Sungai Long Campus Dr Ong Kiah Ju.

Dr Ong greeting the participants

Through the webinar, Dr Ong taught the participants about the basic principles of cheese making and discovering the possibility of making cheese at home. Aside from that, Dr Ong explained the benefits and risk of consuming cheese. She said, “Cheese is a nutrient-dense food which contains protein, calcium and vitamins. Cheese also has been shown to prevent dental caries and promote weight reduction while having anti-hypertensive properties and anti-carcinogenic effects. However, some people may have an allergy to casein; thus, they cannot consume cheese. Some cheese may contain high saturated fat and sodium thus, consuming more will contribute to cardiovascular disease and higher blood pressure. People who are lactose intolerant cannot digest the lactose thus, consuming cheese that did not undergo fermentation would cause stomach discomfort.”

Dr Ong started the webinar with an introduction to the history of cheese making dated back more than 4,000 years ago. “Cheese is curd of milk solids from cow, goat, or sheep milk. The main ingredients needed are milk, acid derived from lemon juice or vinegar or bacteria cultures. Normally, unpasteurised milk has a better flavour. The milk must be free from antibiotics as the antibiotics interfere with the fermentation process,” said Dr Ong.

Dr Ong explaining the steps of making cheese

There are two types of cheese, namely young cheese and aged cheese. “The young cheese such as cream cheese, mascarpone, mozzarella, ricotta can be prepared in a shorter time. It can be consumed after the whey is drained while aged cheese such as cheddar, blue cheese, parmesan needs longer preparation time, aging process. Usually, it will be kept for months before it can be consumed,” added Dr Ong.

Dr Ong also taught the participants the types of bacteria culture and how lactic acid is formed as well as the composition of milk. “Milk is made out of protein, lactose, fat, calcium and vitamins as well as other minerals. It is important to acidify the milk so the milk will form curd. Protein is a huge molecule known as a macromolecule made out of amino acids.

Dr Ong continued the webinar with a video presentation on making cream cheese before a Q&A session with the participants.

Teaching slides by Dr Ong



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