Cheesemaking 101: Moulding

Moulding
Moulding takes place once the curds reach the desired firmness; it is simply the process of scooping the curds into the moulds, which will determine the size and shape of the finished cheeses.

Almost all cheeses are moulded after they have gone through the cutting, healing and stirring stages mentioned above. However there are some cheeses which bypass these steps, and go directly from renneting to moulding. Traditional Camembert is one cheese where the set curd is ladled directly into the moulds, and their labels will often carry the words "Moule a la louche" to indicate this.

The other category of cheese where curd is scooped into the moulds without cutting or stirring is soft fresh cheeses, such as our fresh goat. The difference between these two cheeses - traditional Camembert and soft fresh - is that while the Camembert is moulded shortly after the curd has set, with the soft fresh there is a long ripening period during which the acidity of the curd increases, and it is not scooped into the moulds until it has reached a degree of acidity greater than that found in any other cheese, at any time in its cheesemaking process.

By the time it is ready to be scooped, the soft cheese has become very acid indeed and has lost most of its calcium, which results in a very fragile curd. Stirring this curd would simply turn it into a slurry that would run out through the holes in the moulds. To avoid this it is scooped directly into the moulds with a scoop that looks like a stainless steel dust-pan; in this way we are able to transfer very fragile curd into the moulds without breaking it up.

The next step is to allow the cheese to drain excess whey. However small a curd may be cut, and however much it is stirred, there will still be some whey left in the curds after moulding which it is desirable to drain off. There are holes in the moulds to allow this draining to take place. Draining usually takes place under the weight of the cheese itself, but sometimes a cheese may be pressed mechanically to encourage additional drainage (although we do not do this). Draining usually takes between 24 and 72 hours. At the end of it, the cheeses will be noticeably smaller, firmer, and close to their final shape.