Content area
Full text
Abstract
Adjunct cultures increase the intensity, and change the balance of cheese flavour, mainly in hard and semi-hard varieties. they are purpose-made cultures added deliberately by the cheesemaker, over and above the normal culture usage, to achieve flavour enhancement and/or modification.
Most flavour adjuncts are lactic acid bacteria (laB) derived from existing cheese starter lactic acid bacteria (slaB), or the natural adventitious secondary non-starter lactic acid bacteria (nslaB). slaB-based adjuncts, developed from good flavour-producing starters, are effective in flavour enhancement, but require attenuation of acid production and concentration to high biomass before inclusion in cheesemaking recipes. nslaB-based adjuncts are easier to use, not requiring any modification before use in cheesemaking, but can produce flavour and texture defects. cheese smear bacteria, yeasts and moulds might be adapted as flavour adjunct, but they remain essentially experimental at this stage.
Exopolysaccharide-producing laB are under active trial, particularly in low fat cheese technology, to compensate for their poor texture and water phase control. Probiotic health 'functional' adjuncts are also in the pipeline.
Aust. J. Dairy Technol. 65, 45-49
Adjunct cultures are used by cheesemakers to increase the intensity, and change the balance of cheese flavour, mainly in hard varieties such as cheddar. This is an established, continuously developing practice, widespread in the US, New Zealand and UK, and increasingly employed in Australia.
The term 'adjunct culture' is sometimes interchanged with 'secondary culture' in the research literature, but it is important to distinguish the two to avoid confusion and the potential for misguided application trials. For all practical purposes, adjuncts are purpose-made cultures added deliberately by the cheesemaker, over and above the normal culture usage, to achieve flavour enhancement and/or modification.
Secondary cultures are part of the natural cheese flora, or, if added on purpose, part of the established method/recipe for making a particular variety. In this category, therefore, we would include the natural adventitious lactobacilli and pediococci of cheddar, the gas-forming LAB in semi-hard washed curd varieties, propionibacteria in Swiss-type hard cheeses, surface coryneform bacteria in surface slime cheeses, white surface moulds on soft cheeses and blue moulds in the blue cheeses. For detailed information on such secondary cultures there are many erudite and comprehensive texts available (Bockelmann 2010; Thierry et al. 2010; van den Berg 2001;...