Effects of Cutting Intensity and Stirring Speed on Syneresis and Curd Losses During Cheese Manufacture

Schematic of the 11-L double-O cheese vat (Pierre Guerin Technologies, Mauze, France) used in this study, also showing the twin counter-rotating stirrers and the position of the ferrule in which the curd and whey sampler is mounted.

(a) The double-O cheese vat with twin counter-rotating stirrers, also showing the sampler ferrule situated at approximately mid-height on the vat wall. (b) The vat with counter-rotating cutting blades, each cutting blade had 6 vertical knives and one horizontal knife that connected the vertical knives near the bottom of the vat. The sampler ferrule can also be seen. (c) The specially designed sampler for sampling curd and whey from the vat.

Changes in fat in whey (Fat_WM) with cutting intensity at the high stirring speed over the course of syneresis. Low cutting intensity (Δ); medium cutting intensity (○); high cutting intensity (□). t = time. These values are averages of triplicates.

Changes in fines in whey (Fines_WM) with stirring speed at the low cutting intensity over the course of syneresis. Low stirring speed (Δ); medium stirring speed (○); high stirring speed (□). t = time. These values are averages of triplicates.