Continuous cheese production process
View Patent ↗Processes and equipment for continuously making a substitute or imitation cheese by feeding a heated first liquid stream including emulsifying salt, water and cheese powder into a cooker which is a twin screw mixer, feeding a heated second liquid stream including oil and casein or a non-dairy protein into the cooker, processing the first liquid stream and the second liquid stream through the cooker to form a cheese composition, and cooling the cheese composition. The cheese composition may be continuously extruded in a desired shape such as sheets or ropes and/or may be continuously cooled and cut into pieces having a reduced size such as a size to approximate shredded cheese.
1. A continuous process for making a substitute or imitation cheese comprising:
feeding a heated first liquid stream, which has a temperature of at least 150° F. (about 66° C.) and is comprised of emulsifying salt, water and cheese powder, into a cooker comprising a twin screw mixer;
feeding a heated second liquid stream, which has a temperature of at least 160° F. (about 71° C.) and is comprised of oil and casein or a non-dairy protein, into the cooker;
processing the first liquid stream and the second liquid stream through the cooker to form a cheese composition; and
cooling the cheese composition.
2. The process of claim 1 further comprising injecting steam into the cooker.
3. The process of claim 1 further comprising processing the cheese composition through a forming device having a plurality of apertures, wherein the cheese composition is extruded through the plurality of apertures.
4. The process of claim 3 wherein the formed cheese composition comprises a plurality of ropes.
5. The process of claim 1 further comprising processing the cheese composition through a forming device having a horizontally oriented elongated aperture, wherein the cheese composition is extruded through the aperture as a sheet.
6. The process of claim 5 wherein the sheet of cheese has a thickness of between about 1/16 inch and about 1 inch.
7. The process of claim 1 wherein cooling comprises conveying the cheese composition on a chilled surface.
8. The process of claim 7 wherein the chilled surface comprises a cooling wheel.
9. The process of claim 1 wherein cooling comprises conveying the cheese composition on a chilled surface having a temperature of about 50° F. (about 10° C.) or less.
10. The process of claim 1 wherein cooling comprises conveying the cheese composition through a freezer.
11. The process of claim 1 wherein the twin screw mixer comprises a co-rotating twin screw mixer.
12. The process of claim 1 further comprising extruding the cheese composition through a rotating forming device.
13. The process of claim 12 wherein the rotating forming device deposits the cheese in tear drop shaped pieces.
14. The process of claim 1 further comprising cutting the cooled cheese composition into pieces having a reduced size.
15. The process of claim 14 wherein cutting the cooled cheese composition comprises passing the cooled cheese on a cooling conveyor to a rotary cutter or guillotine cutter.
16. The process of claim 1 wherein the cooling the extruded cheese composition comprises reducing the temperature of the extruded cheese to temperature of about 40° F. (about 4.4° C.) or less.
17. The process of claim 1 wherein the extruded cheese composition cools to a temperature of about 40° F. (about 4.4° C.) or less in between about 15 seconds and about 5 minutes.
18. The process of claim 1 wherein the first heated liquid stream has a temperature of from about 165° F. (about 74° C.) to about 185° F. (about 85° C.).
19. The process of claim 1 wherein the second heated liquid stream has a temperature of from about 160° F. (about 71° C.) to about 170° F. (about 77° C.).