Method and apparatus for processing and packaging cheese

DETAILED DESCRIPTION We claim: 1.
Apparatus for forming large blocks of cheese from prepared cheese curd for packaging and maturing, comprising an upright hollow trunk of rectangular cross section, said trunk having internal transverse dimensions substantially equal to that of the desired blocks of cheese, a tubular frusto-conical casing of rectangular cross section mounted in an inverted position on said trunk, a partition of cruciform shape mounted inside the frusto-conical casing, four upright tubular casings of rectangular cross-section mounted on the frusto-conical casing, a perforated lining on the inside walls of each of the upright casings, said linings forming four hollow columns and said partition sub-dividing the interior of the frusto-conical casing into four ducts connecting the interiors of the columns with the interior of said trunk, means for feeding prepared cheese curd into said columns so as to fill the trunk with a mass of curd and at least partly fill the columns with curd supported on the mass of curd in the trunk, vacuum means for maintaining the interiors of the columns at a sub-atmospheric pressure during feeding of the curd therein whereby some of the moisture in the curd is "flashed off" together with air entering with the curd, said linings co-operating with their casings to form drainage passages therebetween for whey expressed from the curd in the lower end portions of the columns due to the weight of curd superimposed thereon, means for lowering the mass of curd in the trunk so that the curd in the lower end portions of the columns flows into the trunk and fuses with the curd therein to form a pillar of curd, and means for severing the lower end of said pillar of curd to form a block of cheese.
2.
Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said frusto-conical casing is fitted with a perforated lining which co-operates with the casing to form a drainage passage therebetween, and said partition is formed from perforated plate shaped to form four sections each defining two walls of a different one of said ducts, the opposing walls of adjacent sections converging towards one another in the downward direction and being interconnected at their lower edges to form a drainage trough for whey draining through the perforations in said walls, and means for draining whey from said trough