From micelle to melt: The influence of calcium on physico-chemical properties of cheese

This chapter describes calcium on cheese and its properties. By manipulating the calcium equilibrium of cheese, the cheesemaker can modulate the rheological properties of cheese and enhance its functionality. Accelerating the development of cheese texture during ripening may also be useful as mature cheese is more expensive. A detailed understanding of how calcium influences all aspects of cheese making is essential for a food technologist developing cheese with tailored functional properties for ingredient food applications. In cheese rheology studies, it is useful to use more than one type of test to evaluate cheese melt. The salts associated with casein micelles in milk are collectively referred to as colloidal calcium phosphate. Bovine milk has been the primary focus of detailed studies of milk calcium equilibrium; however, the findings from these studies can be tentatively extrapolated to the milk of other species.