Milling, Salting and Filling

Milling, salting / brining and / or Mould filling

The methods available to handle the curd at this stage of production depend on the type of cheese produced, but the handling of the curd can be classified as detailed below.

Mould filling / Pressing / Brining - Parmesan, Grana, Gouda / Edam

Milling / Salting / Mould Filling / Pressing - Cheddar and related British territorial

It is evident, however, that the above division is also applicable to the method of salting the cheese curd, i.e. salting for Cheddar and related varieties and brining for Swiss, Italian and Dutch cheeses. In some of the Italian and Swiss, the surface of the pressed curd is rubbed with dry salt in order to produce a harder rind to protect the cheese during the maturation period.

Milling equipment:

Most of the mechanized equipment employed for the manufacture of cheddar cheese includes automated milling and / or salting and mellowing facilities. The matted curd is cut in to curd chips of roughly 1.25 – 1.85 cm square section and 17.5 – 20.0 cm in length. However, the length of the curd chip is influenced by depth of the matted curd, space between the rotating blades, speed of the rotating cutters and design of the mill.

An alternative type of mill, which could be employed during the manufacture of most British varieties, is the peg type. However a different type of peg mill is used for milling Cheshire cheese curd to give granular pieces, which help the finished cheese to attain the crumbly texture characteristics.