Cheese adjunct cultures.

Adjunct cultures increase the intensity, and change the balance of cheese flavour, mainly in hard and semi-hard varieties. They are purpose-made cultures added deliberately by the cheesemaker, over and above the normal culture usage, to achieve flavour enhancement and/or modification. Most flavour adjuncts are lactic acid bacteria (LAB) derived from existing cheese starter lactic acid bacteria (SLAB), or the natural adventitious secondary non-starter lactic acid bacteria (NSLAB). SLAB-based adjuncts, developed from good flavour-producing starters, are effective in flavour enhancement, but require attenuation of acid production and concentration to high biomass before inclusion in cheesemaking recipes. NSLAB-based adjuncts are easier to use, not requiring any modification before use in cheesemaking, but can produce flavour and texture defects. Cheese smear bacteria, yeasts and moulds might be adapted as flavour adjunct, but they remain essentially experimental at this stage. Exopolysaccharide-producing LAB are under active trial, particularly in low fat cheese technology, to compensate for their poor texture and water phase control. Probiotic health 'functional' adjuncts are also in the pipeline.