Influence of starter culture, temperature and processing technology on the quality of Macedonian white brined cheese

The effect of the starter culture, temperature of curdling and processing technology on the composition, cheese yield and process optimization of Macedonian White cheese (MWC) was studied during 60 days of ripening in brine. Three treatments of cheese were made using current technological process and yogurt as starter–culture gained along processing of previous day (MWCK), freeze dried culture of Lаctobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus 3:1; F–DVS YF–3331 Yo-Flex version: 2 PI-EU-EN (MWCВ1), and (MWCВ2) with same starter culture as previous but whith 5 minute earlier processing of curd and temperature of curdling at 39°C. As ripening progressed, titratable acidity (°SH), salt and protein contents of the (MWCВ2) treatment continuously increased, whereas their fat-in-dry-matter and lactose contents decreased. In same production conditions depending on the used temperature. Way of processing and starter cultures the cheese from (MWCВ2) treatment was with highest acidity of 66.63 + 2.73oSH until the end of ripening of the cheese. Moisture of cheeses remained stable during ripening. The pH of cheese at the 1 day of ripening, which decreased by increasing the temperature of curdling (5.03, 5.11 and 5.00 for MWCK, MWCВ1 and MWCВ2, respectively), significantly (P < 0.05) affected most of the chemical characteristics of cheese. The content of salt at the end of storage at (В1) and (В2) variant is 5.23 + 0.31 and 5.52 + 0.31 respectively. Higher temperature of curdling decreased moisture and pH, whereas cheese protein content increased. The consumption of milk for production of a 1 kilogram of cheese ranged from 7.8 to 8.3 liters of milk. It was concluded that starter cultures have possstively influenced and improved the quality of white cheese.