Quarg is a fresh unripened cheese with a soft and smooth texture. It is made from either skimmed, partially skimmed or whole fat pasteurized cow's, sheep's or goat's milk. Milk is acidified by the use of lactic acid bacteria or acidification is aided by addition of very small amount of rennet. The gel is broken to encourage syneresis and after a few hours whey is separated from curd. Dewheying causes an increase of the casein content in the dry matter of fresh cheese, on the other hand some calcium and serum proteins are lost. However, since serum proteins are biologically valuable proteins, different techniques were introduced to utilize these proteins from drained whey and return them to fresh cheese. Quarg has a high nutritional value, due to its high protein content. Nevertheless, its high moisture content greatly limits the shelf life. This can be extended by suitable storage conditions and by hygienic conditions of quarg production. Although the production of fresh cheeses is governed by basic technological rules, the parameters of each technological phase may differ depending on the region of production. Thus, there are many variations of the basic technological scheme and, also different names of product, which differ from country to country. Some of the most established technological processes for fresh cheese production will be outlined, with an emphasis on quarg.
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