Effect of ultrafiltration and fat content on chemical, functional, textural and sensory characteristics of goat milk-based Halloumi type cheese

Abstract

The present work was undertaken to prepare goat milk-based Halloumi type cheese with varying fat content using ultrafiltration technique and analyze its physico-chemical, functional, textural, sensorial and microstructural characteristics. Results revealed that rennet coagulation time decreased with increasing rennet concentration and fat content. Rennet concentration for cheese making was optimized by generating rennet coagulation curve using rheological tools. Ultrafiltration led to an increase in protein retention and soluble protein. Significantly (P < 0.05) higher meltability and free oil release was observed for Halloumi cheese prepared from ultrafiltered goat milk with 5 g/100g fat. An increase in fat level above 2 g/100g revealed significant improvement in textural attributes of Halloumi cheese. The characteristic changes in structural features as revealed by SEM images were closely supporting the textural attributes. The addition of fat significantly improved the sensory scores of Halloumi type cheese with highest effect on overall acceptability and least on body and texture scores.