Method for manufacturing cheese having a reduced ripening time

A method for manufacturing cheese by which method the ripening time can be substantially reduced in spite of maintaining or improving such properties as taste, consistency, texture and appearance of the cheese, whereby in the manufacture of the cheese is added an enzym or an enzym mixture prepared by extraction from bacterial cultures of such type which are tradtionally used in cheese-making, whereby the enzym or the enzym mixture is added in an amount of between 0.001 and 1.5 percent by weight of the raw cheese before the addition of the rennet and/or before the moulding and pressing of the cheese. In the method are used preferably enzyms derived from cultures of Penicillium roqueforti, Penicillium camemberti, Penicillium caseicoleum, Bacterium linens, Propionibacterium shermanii, Streptococcus lactis etc. having a proteolytic activity, according to the definition given in the above specification, which is higher than 0.001. By the method are manufactured freferably irregular hole type cheeses, round-eyed cheeses or cheeses made from milk concentrated by ultrafiltration. The method also makes possible, by ultra filtration technology, the manufacture of cheeses of a new type having a very short ripening time for direct use after moulding and pressing or for later use in freeze dried state.