Pasteurisation
Heating milk briefly, usually to seventy-two degrees for fifteen seconds, to kill harmful bacteria before cheesemaking.
Also: pasteurization, pasteurised milk, HTST
Pasteurisation, named after Louis Pasteur, is the heating of milk to kill disease-causing bacteria. The common method heats milk to about seventy-two degrees for fifteen seconds and cools it fast; an older method holds it at about sixty-three degrees for thirty minutes. For cheesemakers it also kills most of the milk's native bacteria and some enzymes, so the dairy adds back chosen cultures and the cheese is usually more uniform and milder than one of raw milk. Most cheese worldwide, including nearly all paneer sold in shops, uses pasteurised milk. Some protected cheeses, Comté and Roquefort among them, forbid it, and require raw milk.