Note: Effect of Different Cultures on Physico-chemical and Sensory Properties of Low-fat Herby Cheese

Abstract

The effect of three commercially available traditional cultures namely yoghurt cultures ( Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus), cheese cultures ( Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis and Lactococcus lactis subsp. cremoris) and helveticus culture ( Lactobacillus helveticus) on the physico-chemical and sensorial characteristics of low-fat herby cheese were investigated during ripening for 90 days. Low-fat cheese and full-fat cheese without starter culture were also produced, for comparison. Results indicated that addition of the different starter cultures on low-fat cheeses had no significant (P 0.05) effect in compositional (moisture, fat in matter, titratable acidity and pH) and biochemical (water-soluble nitrogen (WSN)), trichloroacetic acid-soluble nitrogen (TCA-SN) and phosphotungstic acid-soluble nitrogen (PTA-SN) compounds in comparison with the low-fat control cheese. The low-fat cheeses made with the starter cultures had slightly greater scores for appearance and colour, body-texture, flavour and acceptability than the control low-fat cheese after 30, 60 and 90 days ripening but differences were not significant (P 0.05). Full-fat cheeses had greater sensory scores than low-fat cheeses.