Abstract
Calf rennet has long been used in cheese‐making. Because of calf rennet shortage and high cost, novel proteases were needed to meet industry's increasing enzyme demand. Recombinant chymosins and camel chymosin were started to be used in the industry. There is no study in the literature subjecting use of rabbit rennet in cheese production. Chemical, rheological, and sensorial characteristics of white cheese made with rabbit rennet were investigated in this study. Quality characteristics of rabbit rennet cheese (RC) were compared to cheeses produced with commercial calf (CC) and camel chymosins (CLC). RC and CLC exhibited higher hardness and dynamic moduli values throughout the storage as compared to CC. Although moisture levels of cheese samples were similar at day 60, CC had much lower hardness and dynamic moduli values than CLC and RC. While the appearance and structure were better for CLC, the highest odor and taste scores were obtained by RC during 60 days of storage. The results of this investigation proposed that rabbit rennet could be a suitable milk coagulant for white cheese production. Our results showed that rabbit rennet has comparable cheese‐making performance with camel chymosin and could be a good alternative for calf chymosin.
Highlights
Rennet is a mixture of proteolytic–lipolytic enzymes, and its activity is required for milk coagulation
No significant difference was observed at pH (5.8 ± 0.01) in rabbit rennet cheese (RC), commercial calf chymosin cheese (CC), and commercial camel chymosin cheese (CLC) samples at the day of production (p > .05)
As no starter culture was used and no microbial growth was detected throughout the storage, decrease in pH was most likely caused by the change in ionic strength and buffering capacity with ongoing proteolysis and water release from cheese samples
Summary
Rennet is a mixture of proteolytic–lipolytic enzymes (chymosin, pepsin, and lipase), and its activity is required for milk coagulation. Rennet is obtained from the abomasums of nursing animals. Many types of rennet are currently used in dairy industry including calf, pig, lamb, and goat, and recombinant chymosins are available. In addition to animal sources, several proteases obtained from plants, for example, Cynara cardunculus (Verìssimo, Esteves, Faro, & Pires, 1995; Verìssimo et al, 1996), Ficus carica, Arctium minus, and Solanum dobium, are employed in cheese-making traditionally in some parts of the world (Robinson & Wilbey, 1998). Nursing calves had been considered as the primary rennet source in many regions of the world. Calf-originated rennet is not sufficient to supply dairy industry’s coagulant demand. Investigation of novel coagulant sources has been underway
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