Kefir cheese

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Kefir cheese is made using a yeast and bacterial culture called kefir, rather than an additional acid or rennet, to separate milk into curd and whey. The curd is separated by cold straining or by heating using the acidic by-products of the kefir culture to set the curd, followed by straining. The resulting cheese has a very tangy, rich flavor and a creamy, dense texture, similar to brie. It may or may not have live culture remaining in the cheese after manufacture depending on the specific process.

In 2024 scientists sequenced the DNA of 3,600 year-old pieces of kefir cheese found with a mummy in northwest China. It's the oldest intact archeological record of cheese. [1] [2]

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Lactobacillus kefiranofaciens is a species of slime-forming, homofermentative, rod-shaped lactic acid bacteria first isolated from kefir grains, hence its name. Its type strain is WT-2B. Its genome has been sequenced. Lactobaccillus kefiranofaciens was first identified in 1967 in Russia through studying kefir granules. Lactobaccillus kefiranofaciens is part of the Lactobacillus genus and Firmicutes phylum of bacteria. These bacterium metabolize carbohydrates and produce lactic acid, which can be useful in fermentation. Two subspecies have been identified as kefirgranum and kefiranofaciens, which share properties such as being gram-positive, facultatively anaerobic, and rod-shaped.L. kefiranofaciens is the subspecies related to kefir granules. Studies have investigated the origins and causes for variation in kefir composition and led to conflicting results. Some studies indicate the presence of L.kefiranofaciens was due to geographical location, while others indicate it was due to the different milks used.

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References

  1. Hunt, Katie (September 25, 2024). "DNA from 3,600-year-old cheese sequenced by scientists". CNN. Retrieved September 28, 2024.
  2. Golembiewski, Kate (25 September 2024). "This Cheese Stood Alone for 3,600 Years". The New York Times. Retrieved 1 October 2024.