Next-level white brined cheese

Tasty, crumbly and incredibly versatile – it’s easy to see why white brined cheeses are so popular. These cheeses, ranging from feta to beyaz peynir, now represent 11% of the global cheese market – with worldwide feta-type cheese consumption alone growing at around 5% annually.

Achieving the right taste, texture and shelf life alongside an efficient production process for these popular cheese varieties can be challenging. But with our complete portfolio of solutions for white brined cheese you and your customers can enjoy it all.

Capitalize on growth potential

White brined cheese is matured in brine in a sealed environment and can be soft or hard, depending on the variety and the type of milk used. The most popular brined variety - feta-type cheeses are produced across Greece, Turkey, the Balkans, Germany and Scandinavia.

Popular for its versatility, white brined cheese is often sold in pre-packaged salads and as a ‘salad cheese’ in retail outlets. It's also a staple ingredient in home cooking. Part of its rising appeal in this area can be linked to the rise in home working and cooking since the pandemic.

Consumers of white brined cheese want products that deliver a clean, consistent taste and texture across their entire shelf life – a feature with added appeal at a time when many households are trying to minimize food waste.

In short, consumers want to enjoy it all, -and our customers want a consistent output of high-quality cheese. This is why at DSM, -we offer a complete, multi-purpose -portfolio of solutions ideally suited to white brined cheese production.

Getting taste and texture right

First off all - taste is everything. In every white brined cheese application we begin using our broad range of cultures and enzymes - including lipases and bioprotective cultures.  A clean, consistent and slightly salty taste is critical in white brined cheeses. This is what matters most to consumers and will keep them coming back for more. But balancing these taste needs against an extended shelf life can prove challenging. 

We support you in this area with specific solutions designed to reduce bitterness levels and improve texture. These include our Delvo^®Cheese range and Accelerzyme^®CPG, which has the added benefit of accelerating ripening time while effectively masking bitter peptides. These cultures and enzymes also help maintain a consistent pH and prevent post-acidification – both of which are key for maintaining taste and texture in white brined cheese. As a total solutions provider though, these aren’t our only taste offerings. Have a look around to discover our full range!

Shelf life without compromise

After finetuning taste and texture, we look at ensuring consistency while keeping products fresher, for longer. This is where Delvo^®Guard bioprotective cultures shine. The range of cultures can extend the shelf life of white brined cheese by up to 30% without impacting a product’s taste or texture.

We also added two new cultures to this family to help cheese makers balance shelf life against taste and texture even more effectively. If achieving the longest possible shelf life is the goal, our most bioprotective cultures Delvo^®Guard 302 and Delvo^®Guard 304 are the way to go. With these solutions, you can achieve greater control over post acidification, texture and flavor development in various applications.

Plus, in extensive tests, these two Delvo^®Guard cultures showed a noticeable reduction in the amount of yeast and mold growth when compared to market references under similar time and temperature conditions. Gains all round!

Boosting production efficiency and yield

With taste, texture and shelf life covered, we can turn our focus to building an efficient and seamless production process. At DSM, we take a complete view of product development and commercialization to make sure you can provide the best possible food and drinks to consumers.

We offer a range of solutions to help cheese makers reduce the impact of bacteriophage contamination – something that can be incredibly costly in terms of product losses and production downtime. Our phage-robust cultures are a powerful tool for protecting against contamination and help secure a reliable, stable production process. Establishing a robust phage-rotation strategy and harnessing coagulants like Maxiren^® and Fromase^® can further enhance production strategies for even greater consistency.

Cheese making is as much an art as it is a science and, ultimately, white brined cheese production is a balancing act of taste, texture, shelf life and production efficiencies. Our experts and ingredients are here to help you achieve the right balance for your product by enabling more effective and resource-efficient food production. Together, we can deliver delicious products that stay fresh for longer.