Abstract
As artisanal cheeses are gaining recognition during the last years by consumers, efforts should be made to standardize their manufacture in order to produce safe products of high and constant quality, supporting the local economy and spreading them outside the region of origin. In this work, the biochemical and microbiological characteristics of Kefalotyri cheese produced during summer in the mountains of Pindos using an artisanal cheesemaking procedure were studied. Sheep raw cheese milk was used without starter culture addition for Kefalotyri cheese manufacture. At 90 days of ripening and storage (the date that hard cheese can be sold in the market), its moisture was 40.4%, fat 28.8%, salt 4.1% and proteins 23.3%. Butyric acid and 3methyl butanoic acid were the most abundant volatile compounds found in this cheese. Mesophilic lactic acid bacteria and cocci were dominated; high numbers of thermophilic lactic acid bacteria and cocci, enterococci and Enterobacteriaceae were also present and the microbiological data revealed a rather satisfactory hygienic sanitary condition of the cheeses.
Highlights
As artisanal cheeses are gaining recognition during the last years by consumers, efforts should be made to standardize their manufacture in order to produce safe products of high and constant quality, supporting the local economy and spreading them outside the region of origin
Due to the growing interest in the characterization of traditional products and because its production and demand have increased greatly over recent years, the purpose of the present work was to study the biochemical and microbiological characteristics of this artisanal Kefalotyri cheese manufactured in the mountains of Pindos
Kefalotyri cheese is manufactured in various parts of Greece with technologies that differ from area to area
Summary
As artisanal cheeses are gaining recognition during the last years by consumers, efforts should be made to standardize their manufacture in order to produce safe products of high and constant quality, supporting the local economy and spreading them outside the region of origin. The biochemical and microbiological characteristics of Kefalotyri cheese produced during summer in the mountains of Pindos using an artisanal cheesemaking procedure were studied. Kefalotyri is a traditional hard Greek cheese It is manufactured from sheep or goat milk or mixtures of them. A very popular, artisanal Kefalotyri cheese is still manufactured traditionally in the mountains of Pindos without the addition of starter cultures, during summer (Anifantakis, 1991; Caric, 1993; Zerfiridis, 2001; Litopoulou-Tzanetaki and Tzanetaki, 2007). Due to the growing interest in the characterization of traditional products and because its production and demand have increased greatly over recent years, the purpose of the present work was to study the biochemical and microbiological characteristics of this artisanal Kefalotyri cheese manufactured in the mountains of Pindos. Kefalotyri cheese is manufactured in various parts of Greece with technologies that differ from area to area
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