Apparatus for processing cheese

DETAILED DESCRIPTION This invention seeks to overcome the above described disadvantages of the prior art and to provide novel apparatus for processing soft cheese which is convenient and inexpensive and which reliably produces cheese of uniformly high quality.
According to one aspect of the invention there is provided novel apparatus for processing soft cheese comprising a plurality of vertically elongated molds of substantially uniform and unobstructed cross section and formed with perforations in at least their lower regions.
Means are also provided for containing liquids in said molds while providing communication of said molds with each other through the perforations.
Means are provided to place a curd forming milk mixture in the molds.
In a preferred arrangement there is inserted in the spaces between the molds and in the space available outside the molds, displacement elements whose volume displaces the curd forming mixture in those spaces and causes it to flow back inside the molds causing the mixture in the molds to be raised to a desired level.
Means are also provided to bring and maintain the curd forming milk mixture at a temperature sufficient to cause curds and whey to form within the molds.
Further, the means for containing liquids are constructed and arranged to allow selective draining of liquids from the molds through the perforations to permit whey to drain through said perforations after the curds and whey have formed and stratified so that only unbroken curd remains in said molds to form cheeses therein.
In the case where the molds are filled while in a basin and the basin is only partly drained either through a siphon at the upper part of the basin or by a tap at the lower part, completion of the drainage will take place after the molds have been lifted up out of the basin and any curd left in the basin can be recovered.
This is done by providing a perforate filtering sack as a liner in the basin before the molds are put in.
After the molds have been removed the sack is lifted out and the remaining curd will be retained in the sack while the remaining whey drains out