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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania » Eastern Regional Research Center » Dairy and Functional Foods Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #285540
Title: Effects of reducing fat content on the proteolytic and rheological properties of Cheddar-like caprine milk cheese

Author
item Van Hekken, Diane
item PARK, Y - Fort Valley State University
item Tunick, Michael

Submitted to: Small Ruminant Research
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/26/2012
Publication Date: 2/1/2013
Citation: Van Hekken, D.L., Park, Y.W., Tunick, M.H. 2013. Effects of reducing fat content on the proteolytic and rheological properties of Cheddar-like caprine milk cheese. Small Ruminant Research. 110(1):46-51.

Interpretive Summary: Consumer demand for foods with lower fat levels spurred the development of reduced fat cheese. Goats’ milk cheese contains the same amount of fat as cheese made from cows’ milk, but little research has been performed on its quality once the fat content has been reduced. Tests of Cheddar-like goat cheese showed that the fat content may be reduced by a third, from 26% to 19%, without affecting the texture. The amount of force needed to compress the cheese and the work required to chew it does not change much when the fat level is lowered to 19% but decreasing the fat level below 19% creates a much harder and chewier cheese. Reduced fat goat cheese is a viable alternative to the full fat variety for health conscious consumers.

Technical Abstract: High-moisture Cheddar-like cheeses made from caprine milk containing 3.6, 2.0, 1.0, and 0.1-0.5% fat were manufactured and their proteolytic and rheological properties compared after 1, 3, and 6 mo of aging at 4 deg C. The full-fat (FF), reduced fat (RF), low-fat (LF), and non-fat (NF) cheeses contained 48.7, 50.0, 51.5 and 55.2% moisture and 26.3, 19.0, 9.65, and 1.5% fat, respectively. Although the amount of protein in the cheese increased as fat was reduced, the FF, RF, and LF cheeses had 40-44% degradation of beta-casein over the 6 mo of the study while minimal proteolysis (13%) occurred in the NF cheese. The NF cheese exhibited the highest hardness, cohesiveness, chewiness, elastic modulus, viscous modulus, and complex viscosity values due to the denser protein matrix. The FF and RF cheeses had similar rheological values. The fat content of high-moisture Cheddar-like goat cheese can be lowered to 19% without affecting its texture.