Agricultural Sciences

Penn State Extension offers online tools to small-scale cheesemakers

Pennsylvania has about 50 small-scale cheese-making operations -- many that often turn out high quality cheese with distinctive tastes -- but most struggle with achieving product consistency. The Penn State Cheese Tracking System will guide them. Credit: Penn StateCreative Commons

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- When it comes to artisanal cheese making, Pennsylvania is not Vermont, concedes Kerry Kaylegian, but the dairy foods extension specialist in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences is doing what she can to put the Keystone State on the cheese-making map.

The commonwealth has about 50 small-scale cheese-making operations -- many that often turn out high quality cheese with distinctive tastes -- Kaylegian noted, but most struggle with achieving product consistency. So she developed the "Penn State Cheese Tracking System" to guide them.

Funded by a grant from the Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the system consists of customizable documents and spreadsheets to record, track and evaluate data for milk composition and quality, the cheese-making process, processing after the initial cheese-making day, cheese chemical composition, and cheese sensory characteristics.

The Penn State Cheese Tracking System is designed to help small-scale cheesemakers follow and document the quality and consistency of their cheese, noted Kaylegian, who judges national cheese contests and who was instrumental in starting an annual cheese contest four years ago at the Pennsylvania Farm Show in Harrisburg.

"By defining and monitoring measurable parameters, cheesemakers can understand how variation in raw materials and processes can impact the sensory characteristics and quality of their cheese," she said. "This information can help them adjust their practices to consistently make better cheese."

Kaylegian, who has conducted dairy research for nearly three decades, pointed out that she and Penn State Extension are trying to help small-farmstead cheesemakers because they often lack the personnel and resources to track important information related to production. The two or three people who work in a small cheese plant may also be running a small dairy farm, she explained.

By defining and monitoring measurable parameters, cheesemakers can understand how variation in raw materials and processes can impact the sensory characteristics and quality of their cheese Credit: Michael Houtz / Penn StateCreative Commons

"Sometimes they don't have the time to put together a cheese quality system that you might see in a bigger company. The smaller cheesemakers don't have a production department, a quality department, and a research and development department -- in the smaller operations you have a few people doing everything," she said

"They produce a poor batch of cheese -- or an exceptional batch -- and they may not be sure exactly how they did it. I realized that there are a lot of things that I took for granted about cheesemaking in working with some of the bigger companies that these guys just do not have time to record."

Kaylegian worked with three small-scale cheese-making operations to develop the Penn State Cheese Tracking System. She thanked Birchrun Hills Farm, Caputo Brothers Creamery and Hidden Hills Dairy for their participation in the study that led to the system, which was presented during the 2017 American Cheese Society conference in Denver. Lisa Caprera, who graduated with a degree in food science earlier this year, also was involved in the research.

The system was created using Microsoft Word and Excel to provide templates that can be customized by each cheesemaker based on his or her needs. The formats of the templates vary depending on their purpose. Some of the Excel worksheets contain columns that automatically calculate measurements of interest, and some have tables that automatically create graphs to aid in visualizing data trends.

The system consists of the following components:

Milk tracking

The Milk Tracking component tracks raw milk quality and composition parameters over time. Milk quality parameters include somatic cell counts and bacterial counts (standard plate count, total plate count or aerobic plate count). Milk composition parameters include fat, protein and milk solids.

Cheese Making

The Cheese Making component tracks information related to the primary manufacture of a cheese. This includes tracking raw materials and process data usually found on a batch sheet, such as times, temperatures and pH measurements observed during cheese-making steps. To facilitate visual evaluation of data trends, worksheets are designed to capture processes that occur within a period of eight to 24 hours, typically from vat to unhooping.

Post-Make-Day Processing

The Post-Make-Day Processing component tracks processes -- such as brining, washing, turning, aging and mold development -- that occur after the initial make-day. These lengthy processes, which can take several days to months, are separated from the activities that occur during the primary make-day to facilitate interpretation of data and graphs.

Cheese Composition

The Cheese Composition component tracks chemical composition parameters of a cheese by age. These parameters are moisture, salt, fat, protein and pH.

Sensory Evaluation

The Sensory Evaluation component tracks the cheesemaker's choice of sensory attributes for his or her cheese over time. Sensory evaluation of cheese involves a visual assessment, followed by an assessment of the flavor, aroma, body and texture. The evaluation can be done for specific attributes or more generally for overall quality.

The Penn State Cheese Tracking System can be found online here.

A variety of online, noncredit courses for the public recently have been unveiled on Penn State Extension's new website, which provides a wealth of educational experiences and resources for the professionals and community members served by Extension. The new web experience allows consumers to access educational articles, videos, online courses and publications at their convenience, and to register for regional, in-person workshops and online webinars on a variety of subjects.

About Penn State Extension

Penn State Extension is a modern educational organization, dedicated to translating scientific research into real-world applications to drive progress. In support of Penn State's land-grant mission, extension programs promote a vibrant food and fiber system, a clean environment and a healthier population for Pennsylvania and beyond.

Penn State Extension serves individuals, businesses and communities, helping them address problems and realize opportunities through a robust portfolio of educational programs, products and services. With support from federal, state and county governments, the organization has a tradition of bringing unbiased information and support to the citizens of Pennsylvania for more than 100 years.

Dairy foods extension specialist Kerry Kaylegian, in the College of Agricultural Sciences, who judges national cheese contests, was instrumental in starting an annual cheese contest four years ago at the Pennsylvania Farm Show in Harrisburg. Credit: Penn StateCreative Commons

Last Updated December 6, 2017

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