CHARACTERISTICS OF GREEN PEPPER - TREATED PROBIOTIC DOMIATI CHEESE

Abstract

Six treatments of Domiati cheese were made to study the effect of adding sweet pepper extract and bifidobacteria on cheese quality. Control and all cheese treatments are pickled and stored in refrigerator for 12 weeks, incorporating of sweet pepper extract in to Domiati cheese increased its organoleptic scores. Incorporating of sweet pepper extract decreased the titratable acidity, while incorporating of bifidobacteria increased the acidity of cheese. Neither the incorporation of sweet pepper extract nor the incorporation of bifidobacteria affected significantly the ash and total protein content. Titratable acidity, total volatile fatty acid, soluble nitrogen and organoleptic scores increased throughout pickling period, while total protein content and moisture content decreased. Total bacterial, bifidobacteria and yeasts & moulds counts increased during the first 4 weeks of pickling period, then decreased up to the end of pickling period. The counts of bifidobacteria in all cheese treatments and even after pickling for 12 weeks were higher than the numbers should be present to achieve the health benefits of bifidobacteria.