Patent ID: 7713564

Claim:
A soft or firm/semi-hard cheese manufacturing system, comprising: (a) a slurry preparation system to prepare the slurry in the absence of a heated mass of soft or firm/semi-hard cheese comprising (i) a blender adapted to blend a liquid and one or more generally recognized as safe (GRAS) ingredients together to form a slurry, wherein the blender does not substantially alter a size of the GRAS ingredients which are solid before they contact the liquid, and (ii) a cooker that is operatively disposed to receive the slurry from the blender and adapted to heat the slurry to a temperature of about 90° F. to about 300° F.; (b) a first mixer operatively disposed to receive the slurry from the slurry preparation system and adapted to mix the slurry with the heated mass of soft or firm/semi-hard cheese to form an admixture; and (c) a final processing system operatively disposed to receive the admixture and adapted to form a final cheese product.