ACS Certified Cheese Professional Practice Flashcards

Comprehensive practice flashcards for the ACS Certified Cheese Professional exam covering microbiology, chemistry, PDO regulations, and technical operations.

Friable

A texture description meaning easily crumbled or broken into small fragments under physical pressure, typical of aged styles like Cheshire.

Thermophilic

Heat-loving starter cultures, such as Streptococcus thermophilus, that optimize metabolism and reproduction between $104^{\circ}F$ and $135^{\circ}F$.

Ideal Aging Cave Temperature

$45\text{--}55^{\circ}F$, which maintains proper ripening pace, protects rinds from cracking, and prevents spoilage.

Sheep's Milk Flavor Contributors

Highly concentrated short and medium chain fatty acids, specifically caproic, caprylic, and capric acids.

Blue Stilton PDO Rennet

A European protected cheese that allows for microbial fermentation-produced (vegetarian) coagulants to meet commercial demands.

Chymosin

An aspartic protease enzyme in traditional animal rennet that cleaves Kappa-casein at the phenylalanine-methionine bond to build a protein network.

Parmigiano Reggiano PDO Milk Regulation

Milk may be heat treated but must not be pasteurized to ensure historical native microflora remains active.

Grayson

A washed-rind cheese from Meadow Creek Dairy inspired by Italian Taleggio production.

Brick Cheese

An authentic surface-ripened style brought back to the United States by Mariano Gonzalez.

Vacherin Mont d’Or Production Dates

French AOP law mandates this cheese can only be produced between September 15 and March 15.

Pleasant Ridge Reserve Inspiration

An American grass-fed cheese by Andy Hatch synthesized from the operations of French Beaufort and Swiss Gruyere.

O’Banon Shelf Life

Approximately $25\,\text{weeks}$, preserved by a bourbon-soaked chestnut leaf wrapping that creates an anaerobic, alcohol-sterilized ecosystem.

Vertical Tasting

A sensory evaluation planning method that assesses chronological variances within an identical single product type across different ages or lots.

Early Blowing

A defect characterized by a spongy texture and tiny gas holes in fresh curd caused by yeast or coliform contamination within $24\,\text{to}\,48\,\text{hours}$.

Saponification

A chemical process where advanced lipolytic breakdown releases free fatty acids that connect with alkaline minerals, causing a soapy flavor defect.

Listeria monocytogenes Temperature Threshold

A major food safety threat capable of growth in temperatures as low as $26.4^{\circ}F$.

LTLT Pasteurization

Low-Temperature Long-Time pasteurization, requiring a baseline thermal limit of $145^{\circ}F$ ($63^{\circ}C$) held for $30\,\text{minutes}$.

PMO Raw Milk Storage Limit

According to the Pasteurized Milk Ordinance, raw milk must be held at an absolute legal limit of $40^{\circ}F$ or lower.

FDA (Food and Drug Administration)

The federal regulatory body responsible for standard of identity, licensing, and processing safety compliance for cheese in the US.

High-Fat Cheese Classification

A standard international baseline defining cheeses with a Fat in Dry Matter (FDM) greater than $60\%$.

Thermalization

A sub-pasteurization heat treatment of $140\text{--}150^{\circ}F$ for $15\text{--}30\,\text{seconds}$ to mitigate pathogens while preserving enzymes.

Saanen

A dairy goat breed known as the 'Holsteins of the caprine world' for producing the highest overall milk volume per lactation cycle.

Standard Bovine Lactation Period

$305\,\text{days}$, followed by a $60\text{-day}$ dry recovery cycle.

Girolle

A tool invented in 1982 used to shave Tête de Moine AOP into thin, decorative rosettes.

Triglycerides

Chemical compounds consisting of a single glycerol head and three fatty acid tails, making up $98\%$ of natural dairy lipids.

Pasta Filata

Meaning 'spun paste,' a style where curd is immersed in hot water and stretched to align protein fibers into parallel bands.

GMP (Good Manufacturing Practices)

The legally required foundational hygienic and sanitary baseline operational procedures for food processing.

FIFO (First In, First Out)

An inventory rotation acronym for the practice of utilizing older stock first to prevent product shrink.

Alkaline Phosphatase (ALP)

An indicator enzyme used to verify successful pasteurization, as its inactivation validates that safety targets were achieved.

Raw Milk Cheese Aging Rule

The FDA mandate that raw milk cheese must be held at no less than $35^{\circ}F$ for at least $60\,\text{days}$ before sale.

Calcium Phosphate Bridges

The structural bonds that hold casein micelles together in milk, which are disrupted by increased acidity or rennet.

Late Blowing

A defect in aged cheese caused by Clostridium tyrobutyricum spores that ferment lactate into butyric acid, hydrogen, and carbon dioxide gases.

Tyrosine

The amino acid precursor that precipitates into crunchy white crystalline deposits found in long-aged Gouda and Cheddar.

Torta del Casar

A Spanish sheep's milk cheese that utilizes wild cardoon thistle (Cynara cardunculus) as vegetable rennet.

CCP (Critical Control Point)

A step in a HACCP plan where monitoring can actively prevent, eliminate, or reduce food safety hazards.

Quaternary Ammonium (Quat)

A chemical sanitizer commonly used on cheese tools because it is effective and does not require a final water rinse.

Mastitis

Udder inflammation or infection that causes high somatic cell counts and releases enzymes that reduce cheese yield.

Colostrum

The first milk produced after giving birth, containing high antibody levels and properties that disrupt standard curd formation.

Cheddaring

A technique where curds are layered, blocked, turned, and stacked to expel whey and build a distinct fibrous texture.

Penicillium roqueforti

The mold species inoculated into the paste of blue cheese to form its interior blue-green veining.

Calcium Lactate Crystals

Tiny white harmless specks on the surface of aged cheeses formed when lactic acid combines with free calcium ions.

Affinage

The professional French term for the art of selecting, aging, and finishing mature cheeses until peak flavor.

Morbier AOP

A French cheese traditionally featuring a center layer of vegetable ash to separate morning and evening milk curds.