Effect of processing variables on some quality attributes of soft unripened cheese produced from white Fulani cattle milk

Abstract

This study investigated the effect of processing variables on the quality attributes of soft unripened cheese from white Fulani cattle milk. Response surface methodology based on Box-Behnken design was used in the cheese processing and investigation of the effect of processing variables (boiling temperature, 60-80 ºC; coagulation time, 20-30 min and coagulant volume, 4-6 mL) on soft unripened cheese. The yield, colour (lightness, greenness, and yellowness) and physicochemical properties (pH and total titratable acidity (TTA)), proximate and mineral composition of soft unripened cheese samples were determined using standard methods. The textural (hardness, adhesiveness, cohesiveness, and gumminess) and sensory properties of the samples were also determined. Data were subjected to the analysis of variance and means were separated using Duncan’s multiple range test. The yield, moisture, total ash, crude protein, crude fat, crude fibre and total carbohydrate contents of soft unripened cheese samples ranged from 24.90 to 38.84%, 50.04 to 61.13%, 5.46 to 6.61%, 13.04 to 20.82%, 19.02 to 28.38%, 1.78 to 2.69% and 0.95 to 1.64%, respectively. The pH and TTA of soft unripened cheese samples were significantly (p<0.05) affected by the boiling temperature, coagulation time and coagulant volume. The increase in the boiling temperature and coagulation time at constant coagulant volume increased the mineral contents of soft unripened cheese. The increase in coagulation time and coagulant volume significantly (p<0.05) decreased the textural properties of soft unripened cheese. However, soft unripened cheese can be processed at the processing condition of 80 ºC boiling temperature, 25 min coagulation time and 4 mL coagulant volume.