Process for manufacturing cheeses and other dairy products, and the resulting
products, in which lactobionic acid is added, or generated in situ, in combination
with a dairy component in the course of the process. The lactobionic acid can be
used as the sole acidulent for direct acidification of the cheese, or in conjunction
with reduced amounts of lactic acid culture. When the lactobionic acid is generated
in situ during cheese manufacture according to the invention, a lactose oxidase
is used in one embodiment to convert lactose intrinsically present in the dairy
liquid ingredient(s) into lactobionic acid. The organoleptic attributes of the
cheeses made using lactobionic acid as an ingredient are satisfactory and fully
suitable. The process can be applied to the production of a wide variety of cheeses,
including, for example, cream cheeses, hard cheeses such as cheddar, UF cheeses,
process cheeses, cheddar cheeses, and so forth.
