Role of Calcium Chloride in cheesemaking

 

Calcium Chloride

Starting an adventure with cheesemaking, it is impossible not to hear about a substance called calcium chloride. It is a synthetically obtained substance, but completely harmless. E509, also known as calcium chloride, is widely used in the food industry as an acidity regulator and stabilizer, and in pharmaceuticals as a component of calcium supplements.

How much calcium is in milk?

Cow's milk contains about 100-130mg of calcium per 100g of milk. The amount depends on the conditions of breeding and feeding of cattle. About two-thirds of the calcium in milk is found in casein micelles, this type of calcium is called colloidal calcium. The remaining portion is in a soluble form. If some of the colloidal calcium leaves the casein micelles, for example, due to pasteurization or prolonged storage, it becomes soluble calcium. If there is too little colloidal calcium in the milk, it becomes less useful in cheesemaking, due to problems in curd formation. The solution to this problem (at least to some extent) is to add calcium chloride directly to the milk.

Calcium chloride for use in cheesemaking most commonly appears in the form of powder or a ready-made solution at a concentration of about 30-50%.

Calcium chloride in cheesemaking

• Improved quality and firmness of the curd Low calcium content in milk negatively affects the action of rennet, which consequently requires more time for coagulation. The curd produced is delicate and releases whey with difficulty. Often during processing, the curd starts to crumble, and instead of nice curd cubes, we get a milky pulp. In extreme cases, the curd may not form at all.
• Increased yield Enriching milk with calcium increases yield, and ultimately, we can obtain more cheese. In the processing of small quantities, this is practically imperceptible, but in the case of large productions, even a 0.5% increase in yield is significant.
• Enriching brine in calcium Calcium chloride is used in fresh brine, in which no cheeses have been salted yet. Due to the difference in calcium concentrations, brine rinses calcium out of cheese, causing the surface to become soft and slippery. The appropriate amount of calcium chloride in brine prevents it from rinsing out of cheese, while supporting the formation of a rind. There is no need to add calcium chloride to brine that has already been used to salt cheeses.
• Improved repeatability of production In industrial cheesemaking, where most of the processes are automated, even minimal differences in the calcium content in milk matter. It is mainly added to optimize the cheese production process and standardize the final product.
  

Should you add calcium chloride to milk?

In my opinion, there is nothing wrong with adding calcium chloride to milk. I know some people have a problem with it, but in reality, we are enriching the milk with calcium. If the milk you are using has been stored at a low temperature for a long time, or if it has been pasteurized, then calcium chloride can certainly be added. Of course, if the milk is of high quality, there will not be a significant difference in curd formation even after pasteurization, but there will be a difference in cheese yield.

It is possible that you may not notice a change in yield when processing 10 or 20 liters of milk, but you will see a difference with larger amounts.

If you use milk from the store, from my own experience, I can say that it is impossible to make cheese without calcium chloride.

However, if you use rural milk, even pasteurized, you must make the decision to add calcium chloride based on your own observations :)

Photo by Zoe Richardson on Unsplash