Cooked-Curd Cheeses is a cheese-making term. It refers to milk curds that have been heated during the cheese making process to a temperature between 48 and 56 C (118 to 132 F.)
Generally, cheeses made from curd that has been cooked end up to be harder or more rubbery cheeses than others.
After milk has been coagulated to separate into curds and whey, the whey is drained away, and the curd is cut to help more whey escape from it.
Then, the temperature of the curd is raised to the 48 to 56 C range. This heating encourages more whey to escape from the curds.
Cooked curd cheeses include hard cheeses such as Grana, Parmesan and rubbery cheeses such as Emmenthal, Gruyere, and Tilsit.
Owing to the heating, the types of bacteria used for cooked-curd cheeses tend to be in the Lactobacilli or Streptococci family, as they survive the heating well.