Functuonally enhanced armola cheese production

In this study, functuonally enhanced armola cheese was produced by adding vegetable pulps and probiotic culture selected due to their antioxidant properties to the traditionally produced armola cheese. Accordingly, vegetables with high antioxidant activity (red sweet pepper, broccoli, pumpkin and carrot) and Lb. Acidophilus probiotic culture were used. Cheese samples were vacuum packed and stored for 30 days. At the 1st, 10th, 20th and the 30th days of the storage, physical, chemical, textual and sensory properties of the cheese samples were analysed. Dry matter, ash, fat, salt, titratable acidity, pH, total protein value, total phenolic compounds, total antioxidant activity, texture profile analysis, microbiologic analyses, colour analysis and sensory analysis of the cheese samples were determined.As a result of the analyses made on the 1st, 10th, 20th days of the ripening, it was found that there were significant differences in the functionally enhanced armola cheese samples in terms of dry matter, ash, titratable acidity, pH, total protein value, total phenolic compounds and the total antioxidant activity rates (p<0,05). Similar results were obtained in the DPPH and FRAP procedures, it was found that the broccoli containing sample hads the highest ratios compared tothose of the other armola samples whereas the control sample had the lowest ratio. It was found that , all the samples containing vegetable pulps hads higher antioxidant activity than that of the control sample. According to the data, collected from the Lactococcus ssp., Lactobacillus ssp., Lb. Acidophilus counts of the functionally enhanced armola cheese samples, it was found that there were significant statistical changes throughout the storing (p<0,05). In the analyses performed on the 1st, 10th and the 20th days of the ripening, it was found that the armola cheese samples maintained their probiotic characteristics. On the 30th day of the ripening, it was observed that all the armola cheese samples, except for the control sample, had a Lb. acidophilus quantity of 106 log kob/g and maintained their probiotic properties until the last day of the storage.As a result of sensory analyses, comparing the samples with each other throughout the 30 day storage period, it was found that there was a significant statistical difference in terms of color, firmness, texture, flavor and general evaluation scores (p<0,05), whereas there were no statistically differences in terms of humidity, yogurt- like flavor and sourish flavour scores (p>0,05). It was observed that, the vegetable pulps added to the armola cheese had an affect on the colour, texture and taste scores. The favorite armola cheese choosen by the panelists in sensorial terms was the control sample and the red sweet peppered armola cheese.