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I am new to cheese making and I do not want to use raw milk to make cheese for health reasons. So, my next option is to use pasteurized milk. However, since pasteurization destroys some of the proteins one can say that there will be some differences considering there are going to be less proteins to coagulate.

I heard that most cheese makers are adding ingredients to help pasteurize milk coagulate. What are these ingredients? Are they natural?

What is the best approach to take for making good cheese with pasteurized milk?

Recep
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Unfortunately, the usual store bought pasteurised milk undergoes a process that kills virtually everything needed for coagulation to occur, which basically means making cheese becomes a whole lot harder.

The cheese you buy from stores that is made from pasteurised milk is either made from low heat pasteurisation or by the addition of additional ingredients, typically calcium chloride.

I have no idea where you may be able to acquire calcium chloride where you live but you may be able to obtain low heat pasteurised milk from health food stores, maybe some of the larger supermarkets will stock it, also.

Pulse
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The proteins in milk are almost totally unaffected by pasteurisation temperatures, but you can use a lower temperature for longer if you prefer: 30 min at 63 degC or 10 min at 65 degC. I heat milk to 71.7 deg C for 15 seconds (HTST pasteurisation)and it coagulates beautifully. Whey proteins are pretty temperature stable too, but less so than the milk proteins. However, apart from ricotta, you usually lose the whey protein anyway. UHT milk is ultra-heat-treated, so much hotter: Above 135 degC and it sterilises the liquid foods. NZ Cheesemaker

Anni Watkins
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Most pasteurization is done at temperatures under 165F and does not damage the milk proteins enough to prevent coagulation.

Milk that has been heated past 165F will be labeled as Ultra Pasteurized and is likely to not be suitable for cheese making because too many casein molecules will have denatured and will be unable to bond with the calcium in the milk.

The calcium chloride is often added as a safety net for milk that may have been mistreated. Both pasteurization and homogenization can damage the milk structure. The extra calcium makes it more likely that the undamaged proteins will be able to find calcium to bind with and the structure of the curd will be acceptable.

Again most store-bought milk in the US is not Ultra Pasteurized and a suitable curd can often be formed with no extra additives. Most home cheese recipes call for store bought milk and I have personally had no instance of store bought milk (or even powdered milk) failing to form a curd.

pasteurization: http://www.fcs.msue.msu.edu/ff/pdffiles/foodsafety2.pdf
Milk selection in home cheese making: http://biology.clc.uc.edu/fankhauser/Cheese/Cheese_course/Cheese_course.htm

Sobachatina
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I've seen some recipes that use cultured buttermilk, stirred into the milk as an agent to acidify everything before adding the rennet. I'd say this is your best bet.

pasteurization isn't sterilization, so some types of bacteria may survive, but you have more of a chance to get an infection from something undesirable, I would wager.

No actual experience though. Fair warning.

OpenID-test2
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