Spreading and melting cheese

The first perfected procedure for melting cheese was invented in 1913 by Walter Gerber and Fritz Stettler in Thun, after food chemist Prof. Robert Burri had discovered the effects of the emulsifying salt sodium citrate in 1912. Melting cheese is produced differently to hard, semi-hard and soft cheese. Melting cheese generally has a fat content of 30% to 45% FDM. The addition of emulsifying salts turns the protein into its soluble form. We differentiate between blocks of melting cheese (solid consistency, high acidity, low water content) and melting cheese spreads (soft consistency, low acidity, high water content).