Cheese is made in the vat...

The production of rennet-coagulated cheeses falls into two well defined stages, cheese manufacture and ripening. The manufacturing step (usually 5-24 h) largely predetermines how the cheese ripens (2 weeks to >2 years, depending on variety) as manufacture usually controls moisture (and other compositional parameters), microflora and levels of residual rennet. Indeed, there is relatively little a cheesemaker can do to rectify problems of manufacture during ripening. Ripening parameters (e.g., temperature, relative humidity, packaging material) allow relatively little scope for control of problems encountered during manufacture. Wise old cheesemakers often say that "cheese is made in the vat". This traditional saying contains more than a grain of truth.

Below is a summary of the major events that occur during the manufacture and ripening of many cheese varieties.