Physicochemical, textural, volatile, and sensory profiles of traditional Sepet cheese

Abstract

Characterization of traditional cheeses is important for the protection of diversity of tradition and contributing baseline data for further research and quality control. Sepet cheese is a traditional cheese and specific to the Aegean region of Turkey. In this study, 52 Sepet cheese samples were analyzed to characterize the physicochemical, textural, volatile compounds, and sensory profiles. The changes in the physicochemical and volatile compositions were investigated during production and ripening periods. The average dry matter (DM; 55.16%), fat-in-DM (45.80%), protein (29.18%), salt-in-DM (12.88%), water activity (0.83), pH (5.50), titratable acidity (1.69%), ripening and lipolysis indices (11.06 and 6.36), firmness (212.20 N), springiness (0.62), cohesiveness (0.57), adhesiveness (0.48 Nmm), and chewiness (66.87 N) values of Sepet cheese samples were determined. Hexanoic, octanoic, decanoic, and butyric acids, which were responsible for the cheesy, waxy, goaty odors, were the most abundant volatile compounds in these cheeses. Most of the volatile compounds increased significantly during production and ripening. Significant changes in most of the physicochemical characteristics were observed up to the third month of ripening. As a result of the descriptive sensory analysis, Sepet cheeses were described with descriptors such as free fatty acid, animal like, sulfurous, creamy, cooked, and whey, and aromatics with high salty basic taste.

Physicochemical and Sensory Properties of Mihalic Cheese

“…Ayad et al [62] identified the bitter, rancid, unclean, salty, moldy, and fatty attributes for "Ras" cheese by descriptive sensory analyses. Ercan et al [63] observed the sour, bite, free fatty acids, animal like, and sulfurous characteristic terms for "Sepet" cheese. In addition, cooked, whey, and sweet terms were determined as descriptive for Circassian cheese by Guneser and Karagul Yuceer.…”

“…These compounds were also determined as aroma-active compounds in Chevre, Ezine, Circissian, and Gruyere cheeses. [61][62][63]71] …”

“…[73] This compound was also found in Sepet, Cheddar, Niva, Circassian, and Gruyere cheeses. [8,54,59,64,71,74] Ethyl butyrate intensities of the samples ranged from 1.5 to 5.8. It can be formed by esterification, alcoholysis, acidolysis, or transesterification.…”

Microbiological Quality and Variability of Natural Microbiota in Croatian Cheese Maturing in Lambskin Sacks

“…It is therefore necessary to characterise traditional cheese not only to protect its diversity but also to control the quality (6). Yet artisanal cheese matured in animal skin has been poorly characterised, except for some Turkish and Lebanese varieties (7)(8)(9).…”

Physicochemical differences between Croatian cheese matured in a lamb skin sack (Sir iz misine) and cheese matured in a rind throughout ripening

“…According to the description by Tudor Kalit et al (2010), fully ripened cheese in a sack (75 days) belongs to the group of hard cheeses has a high fat and total solids content, white to yellowish colour and hard texture. The characterisation of artisanal cheeses is important to protect the diversity of tradition and is the basis for further research and quality control of cheeses (Ercan et al 2011). The characterisation of artisanal cheeses is important to protect the diversity of tradition and is the basis for further research and quality control of cheeses (Ercan et al 2011).…”