Digital Days Out Friday 10th April – Cheese-making Step 4: Cutting, stirring & scalding

The semi-solid coagulum is cut into small pieces by rotating knives and stirrers to release ‘curds and whey’.

The whey is the yellow liquid and the curds are the solid pieces suspended in the whey! This is done by passing steam through the jacket of the vast, which heats the curds and why by a few degrees centigrade. The cutting process continues until the curds are about the size of baked beans.

Having achieved the correct curd size, the curds are scalded. The purpose of scaling is to harden the shell around the curd particle and also to expel moisture.

Fun fact: