High pressure treatment decelerates the lipolysis in a caprine cheese

Abstract

Garrotxa cheese, a cheese made of goat's milk, typical of the Catalonian region, has been high pressure-treated (400 MPa, 5 min, 14 °C) to accelerate the ripening. The volatile fraction of Garrotxa cheese was studied on treated and untreated samples at two ripening stages by SDE extraction with dichloromethane, and identified with GC–MS. Pressure treatment at 400 MPa for 5 min decelerated the lipolysis, having treated cheese lower amount of free fatty acids, and, in general, less volatile compounds showing a tendency to decrease differences during ripening. No new volatile compounds could be identified after pressure treatment. Humidity and content of non-casein nitrogen and non-protein were higher on pressurised cheese, but bacterial counts were significantly reduced after pressure treatment. High pressure-treated Garrotxa cheese was not substantially equivalent to the regular-ripened cheese, however the treatment presented in this paper could lead to new varieties of cheese.