Production and properties of a semi-hard cheese made from soya milk

A semi-hard soya cheese was produced from reconstituted soya-milk powder using a starter culture of Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactobacillus fermentum. The physical properties of the cheese were similar to cheese made from bovine milk. A taste panel of Far Eastern subjects found the flavour unacceptable but the hedonic rating improved when cubes of the cheese were deep-fried. It is suggested that the cheese could be used as a protein-rich component of a meal e.g. to replace meat in a stew. (Original abstract - amended)