Danish scientists have created a sourdough starter that accelerates the maturation of cheese twice

Researchers at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) have grown a new strain of mesophilic bacteria from scratch that releases enzymes for cheese maturation faster and does not require the addition of additional cultures. Scientists say a newly developed sourdough can help cheeses like cheddar and gouda ripen almost twice as fast. The new sourdough has been tested on semi-hard Danbo cheese and has reduced maturation time from 25 to 13 weeks. Making cheese, especially hard cheeses, is an expensive and time-consuming procedure, requiring several weeks to more than a year of product storage. For example, according to a study conducted in 2003, the cost of aging cheddar was estimated at about $640-1025 per ton of cheese aged for nine months. Approaches to accelerate the ripening process are different: from raising the temperature to using genetically modified starter cultures or enzyme mixtures. However, all of these methods are expensive, contribute to off-flavours, and are ...