Cheese can be used as an ingredient in cottage foods so long as the final product meets the requirements for food safety. The final product must not require hot or cold (refrigeration or freezing) holding for food safety, and have a water activity of 0.85 or less. Examples of cottage foods that may meet these food safety requirements include certain baked goods, crackers, and baked or dehydrated pet treats.
Selecting a cheese
Natural cheeses can be separated into four categories based on their hardness: soft, semi-soft, hard and very hard. The cheese hardness correlates with their water activity and can be a useful way to determine what cheese you might use as an ingredient in your cottage food.
Soft cheeses
Soft cheeses typically have a water activity in the range of 0.98 to 0.991. This is high water activity. Cheeses in this category include Brie, Camembert, cottage cheese, cream cheese, ricotta, feta and paneer. Soft cheeses will likely not function well as an ingredient in cottage foods.
Semi-soft cheeses
Semi-soft cheeses typically have a water activity in the range of 0.96 to 0.98. Cheeses in this category include blue, brick, Havarti, Monterey Jack, mozzarella, Muenster, provolone and cotija. This water activity range is also high. Some cheeses in this category may work as an ingredient in cottage foods with sufficient baking and then potentially dehydrating the baked product.
Hard cheeses
Hard cheeses typically have a water activity in the range of 0.95 to 0.967. Cheeses in this category include cheddar, Colby, Edam, Gouda and Swiss. These cheeses may work as an ingredient in a cottage food if the product is first baked and then may require dehydration.
Very hard cheeses
Very hard cheeses typically have a water activity in the range of 0.693 to 0.881. Cheeses in this category include Parmesan and Romano. These cheeses may work as an ingredient in a cottage food if the product is baked.
Preparing the cottage food
When using cheese as an ingredient in a cottage food, the cheese must be added before baking. Cheese cannot be used as a topping or added after baking. Baking has two functions. First, baking is the heat treatment that is needed to inactivate potential pathogens (illness-causing microorganisms) that may be present on the cheese. Second, baking lowers the water activity of the cheese by causing steam to be released during heating. The reduction in water activity is dependent on the type and amounts of other ingredients and the total baking time.
It is not guaranteed that the water activity of cheese will be reduced to 0.85 or below during baking. Therefore, cheese cannot simply be added as an ingredient to existing tested recipes. Adding cheese to an existing recipe can change the final product’s water activity because the formulation was altered. The altered recipe and final product will need to be tested for water activity. If the final product’s water activity is 0.85 or less, it can be sold as a cottage food.
Depending on the cheese selected, when making foods like cheese-flavored crackers or pet treats, the product may need to be baked and then dehydrated. Dehydration removes additional water and increases the crispiness of the product. The baking and dehydrating times will be impacted by the thickness of cracker or pet treat and the amount of cheese. The final product’s water activity must be 0.85 or less.
Have a question you want answered?
Email your question(s) to the Food Safety Team at exfdsafe@umn.edu. It may be featured in this newsletter to benefit all Minnesota cottage food producers.