This site will be of interest, primarily, to the Artisan cheese-maker or to the potential cheese maker. I nonetheless hope that any lover of natural food may benefit from a little insight into the Art, the Science and the Politics involved in the production of real cheese.
Preservation is, in a nutshell, the slowing down of the natural progression of putrefying organisms.
This requirement will increment relative to the energy used. Whilst a micro-organism is reproducing it will use more energy thus, by making less moisture available we restrict it's capability to reproduce, or even to survive at all if we so wish. The lactose is dissolved in the water content of milk. If we reduce the moisture we also reduce the available energy. All organisms have an optimum acidity at which they will operate best.