USU, Biotechnology Center, Making Cheese Using Modern Biotechnology Making Cheese Using Modern Biotechnology Introduction Cheese is a fermented milk product made from the curds produced when milk is coagulated.
Fermentation is a chemical change caused by microbes.
There are more than 500 kinds of cheese, and microbes play an important role in determining the type and quality of cheese that is made. It isn't known when cheesemaking was first discovered, but it is an ancient art. The first cheeses were not cheeses as they are now known, but curds and whey. Curds and whey result when milk is coagulated. The curd is solid and the whey is liquid.