Texture and Chemistry of Iranian White Cheese as Influenced by Brine Treatments

Abstract

The effect of different brine concentrations, pH of brine, and type of the used acid in brine on chemistry, element content, aw (water activity), texture and microstructure of Iranian white cheese was studied. A batch of Iranian white cheese was produced, divided into 8 blocks, and immersed in 8 brine treatments i.e., L1(Cheese ripened at 16% brine concentration with pH equal to 5 and lactic acid for pH adjusting), L2 (Cheese ripened at 10% brine concentration with pH equal to 5 and lactic acid for pH adjusting), L3 (Cheese ripened at 10% brine concentration with pH equal to 4.3 and lactic acid for pH adjusting), L4 (Cheese ripened at 10% brine concentration with pH equal to 3.6 and lactic acid for pH adjusting), C1 (Cheese ripened at 16% brine concentration with pH equal to 5 and citric acid for pH adjusting, C2 (Cheese ripened at 10% brine concentration with pH equal to 5 and citric acid for pH adjusting), C3 (Cheese ripened at 10% brine concentration with pH equal to 4.3 and citric acid for pH adjusting), and C4 (Cheese ripened at 10% brine concentration with pH equal to 3.6 and citric acid for pH adjusting). Cheese samples were analyzed with respect to chemical characteristics, rheological parameters and microstructure. Increasing the brine concentration increased the instrumental hardness parameters (i.e., fracture stress, elastic modulus, and storage modulus). pH and type of the used acid in brine had no significant effect on these parameters.