Cheese as a Food Ingredient

Cheese is a highly versatile ingredient which is used for preparation of culinary dishes, formulated food products and ready-prepared meals. In these applications, it contributes a range of functionalities including structure, texture, flavor, mouthfeel, cooking properties and nutrition. Functionality is designed by controlling the interactive effects of milk composition/pre-treatments, manufacturing procedure, cheese composition, structure, and degrees of casein mineralization, casein hydrolysis (proteolysis) and fat emulsification. Functionality is extended through secondary processing whereby cheese is transformed to dried cheeses, processed cheese products, cheese powders and enzyme-modified cheeses.