Acidity and Age of Natural Cheese as Factors Affecting the Body of Pasteurized Process Cheese Spread

Two varieties of cheese, Cheddar and Dariworld, were made with normal and high pH. They were aged at 50° F. and at various intervals were used individually as the base for cheese spreads of constant composition. The acceptability of the spreads was measured organoleptically, by penetrometer, and by melting tests. It was found that natural cheese with high pH was undesirably firm in body at every age; this firmness persisted in the spreads made from such cheese. All tests showed that the age of the cheese when processed into spread affected acceptability. Improvements were found as the cheese aged to 60 days. After that, penetrometer values tended to show increased hardness and melting tests continued to increase with age. Storage of spreads at 50° F. was possible without significant changes in penetrometer values for at least 90 days, but deterioration was measurable after 15 days of storage at 90° F. and had reached a critical level for commercial use in approximately 30 days. The normal Dariworld cheese appeared to be superior to normal Cheddar cheese for making this type of spread. It reached desirable processing characteristics at an earlier age and the spread made from it was more durable in storage.