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Fermentation Atlas

Cheese from worldwide

Fresh lactic (acid-set) cheese family

Milk is soured slowly by mesophilic lactic bacteria, often with a trace of rennet, until it sets to a soft acid gel near pH 4.5. The curd is cut, drained in cloth and eaten fresh within days or weeks, without ripening. Made in 5 steps over 5.3 days – 31 days. The longest step, season, pack and keep cold, takes 5–28 days (Ramet J.P. 2001) and runs at 0–6 °C (Ramet J.P. 2001). Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis and subsp. cremoris and Lactococcus lactis biovar diacetylactis do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step5–28 daysReported[fao-ramet2001][dmytrow2021][ziarno2025]Season, pack and keep cold
Temperature0–6 °CReported[fao-ramet2001][dmytrow2021][ziarno2025]Season, pack and keep cold
AciditypH 4.6–4.8Measured[dmytrow2021]Season, pack and keep cold
Fully documentedCheese5.3 days – 31 days

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceFamily template, so the ingredients are the ones fresh acid cheeses share. The amounts are a tvarog study's starter dose and the FAO fresh-cheese rennet dose.
Milk · Usually heat-treated; raw in some traditional practice[fao-ramet2001][dmytrow2021]
2.5 % of milk volumeMesophilic starter · Lactococci and Leuconostoc; the dose is from one tvarog study[dmytrow2021]
0.4–1.0 g per 100 kg milkRennet (a trace, optional) · Firms the acid gel (FAO fresh-cheese method)[fao-ramet2001]
Salt, cream or herbs (optional) · Mixed in after draining[fao-ramet2001]
Startermesophilic lactic starter (defined culture), or yesterday's whey or sour milk

Total time across the recorded steps: 5.3 days – 31 days

Start
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72–90 °C

What changes: Heat kills most of the bacteria already in the milk

Step 1 of 5
Heat-treat the milk
Time
0.2–1 min
Reported
Temperature
72–90 °C
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria

Some traditional makers skip this step and use raw milk. Output: heat-treated milk.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
liquid
Colour
white

Microbes at work in this step

heat kills most of the native milk flora

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

What makes this one different

The curd is set mainly by acid from a slow lactic souring near pH 4.5, not by rennet, and it is drained and eaten fresh with no ripening. Lactic goat cheeses start the same way but are then ripened with a rind.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Cottage cheeseCurd cut into cubes, cooked, washed with cold water and dressed with cream.
  • Cream cheeseHigh-fat mix; the curd is separated hot.
  • Quark and tvorogSmooth (quark) or crumbly, pressed (tvorog, tvarog) skim or full-fat curd.

Made the fresh lactic way

Safety

The low pH helps, but there is no ripening step to remove pathogens, so the milk is usually heat-treated. The UK NHS advises eating unpasteurised soft cheeses only when cooked until steaming hot, because of Listeria. WHO notes that most brucellosis cases come from unpasteurised milk or cheese from infected goats or sheep. Keep fresh cheese cold (0–6 °C in the FAO method).

Hazards the sources name: Listeria monocytogenes in soft cheese made from unpasteurised milk; Brucella in unpasteurised goat or sheep milk and cheese.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

Acid-set curd is the oldest kind of cheese; milk residues in perforated pottery from Kuyavia, Poland, date to about 5200 BCE (Salque et al. 2013).

  1. [fao-ramet2001] Ramet J.P. 2001, The technology of making cheese from camel milk (Camelus dromedarius), FAO Animal Production and Health Paper 113, chapter on fresh cheese methodsbook
  2. [dmytrow2021] Dmytrów I., Szymczak M., Szkolnicka K., Kamiński P. 2021, Development of functional acid curd cheese (tvarog) with antioxidant activity containing astaxanthin from shrimp shells, Foods 10:895paper
  3. [ziarno2025] Ziarno M., Zaręba D., Ścibisz I., Kozłowska M. 2025, Effect of enzymatic lactose hydrolysis on the quality and texture of full-fat curd cheese produced without whey separation, Microorganisms 13:2471paper
  4. [cfr133-129] US Code of Federal Regulations, 21 CFR 133.129, Dry curd cottage cheesegov
  5. [nhs-preg] NHS (UK), Foods to avoid in pregnancy (cheese section)gov
  6. [who-brucellosis] World Health Organization, Brucellosis fact sheetgov
  7. [salque2013] Salque M. et al. 2013, Earliest evidence for cheese making in the sixth millennium BC in northern Europe, Nature 493:522–525paper