Enzyme modified cheese

This review highlights areas of interest in the production of enzyme-modified cheese. The demand for cheese flavours has increased due to consumer demand for a wider choice of convenience and low-fat products that possess cheese flavour. At present the best method for producing economic and consistent cheese flavours is through enzyme-modified cheese production. Essentially, the technology used to produce enzyme-modified cheese involves incubating cheese/curd with enzymes (proteinases, peptidases, lipases and esterases) in a slurry system under controlled conditions until the required flavour is reached. The flavour profile of enzyme-modified cheese can be up to 30 times the intensity of natural cheese. A myriad of cheese flavours can be produced in this manner but a detailed understanding of the biochemistry of cheese flavours is required before production can be achieved on a consistent basis.