Effect of Milk-Clotting Enzymes on Cheese Yield

Abstract

Stirred curd cheese was manufactured to determine the effects of six milk-clotting enzymes on yield. Concentrations of calf rennet, recombinant chymosin, 50:50 blend of calf rennet and bovine pepsin, and proteases from Mucor miehei, Mucor pusillus var. Lindt, and Endothia parasitica were adjusted to give equal clot times. Forty-eight vats of cheese were manufactured with eight replications of each treatment in a randomized block design. Milk was analyzed for fat, total solids, total N, and noncasein N. Cheese was analyzed for fat, total solids, and total N. Whey was analyzed for fat and total N. Dry matter cheese yield adjusted for milk lot changes of milk fat and casein was lower for cheese made with Endothia parasitica protease than for calf rennet. Cheese made with recombinant chymosin or a 50:50 blend of calf rennet and bovine pepsin resulted in yields that were not significantly different from those of calf rennet Cheeses manufactured with protease from Mucor miehei had slightly lower yields than did rennets containing chymosin.