Comparative study of quality characteristics of Kashkaval cheese from fresh and chilled curd

Summary

The influence of chilledcurd on Kashkavalcheese microbiological, functional, textural and sensorial characteristics was studied. It was found that salting the curd in a hot solution influenced to a greater degree the microflora reduction from the starter culture in Kashkaval cheese obtained fromfresh curd. In terms of species composition, Streptococcusssp. had a higher survival rate compared to Lactobacillusssp. During maturation, this trend changed and the number of Lactobacillusssp. increased, while that of Streptococcus ssp. remained constant and even slightly decreased in both studied samples. Melting and textural characteristics of the two studied cheese samples did not differ significantly at the end of the maturation process. The overall scores of the sensory profile were higher in the cheese obtained from fresh curd but no statistical differences (p>0.05) between separate sensory indices were established. The obtained results indicated that "Cagliata"can be successfully used as an alternative raw material for fresh curd in the production of Kashkaval cheese.