The influence of milk pasteurization temperature and pH at curd milling on the composition, texture and maturation of reduced fat cheddar cheese

Abstract

Reduced fat milks were pasteurized, for 15 s, at temperatures ranging from 72 to 88°C to give levels of whey protein denaturation varying from ˜ 3 to 35%. The milks were converted into reduced fat cheddar cheese (16–18% fat) in 500 litre cheese vats; the resultant cheese curds were milled at pH values of 5.75 and 5.35. Raising the milk pasteurization temperature resulted in impaired rennet coagulation properties, longer set‐to‐cut times during cheese manufacture, higher cheese moisture and moisture in the non‐fat cheese substance, lower levels of protein and calcium and lower cheese firmness. Increasing the pH at curd milling from 5.35 to 5.75 affected cheese composition and firmness, during ripening, in a manner similar to that of increasing milk pasteurization temperature. Despite their effects on cheese composition and rheology, pasteurization temperature and pH at curd milling had little influence on proteolysis or on the grading scores awarded by commercial graders during ripening over 303 days.

Effect of Pasteurization Temperature on the Quality of Goat Cheese

“…cant increases in moisture content and reduction in fat and protein content. Similar observations have been reported previously (Guinee, et al, 1998). The positive relationship between pasteurization temperature and cheese moisture showed an adverse effect of heat treatment on syneresis of rennet-induced milk gels in model systems.…”

Pre-treatment of cheese milk: principles and developments

“…The adverse effects on coagulation are attributed to the inhibition of hydrolysis of κ-casein by chymosin due to the β-lactoglobulin/κ-casein complex at the micelle surface impairing the accessibility of κ-casein to the coagulant [55,59,139], to reduced reactivity of renneted micelles with attached denatured whey proteins to aggregation, or to a reduction in the concentration of micellar calcium [139,142]. Reduced shrinkage of the para-caseinwhey protein network promotes increased water-binding [145], leading to poor coagulation and syneresis properties, increased set-to-cut times, soggy curds with poor matting ability, ragged curd chips and poor curd fusion during cheese manufacture [48,92]. Gel-forming properties of high-heat-treated milks may be partly restored by ultrafiltration of milk to higher protein levels prior to cheese manufacture, reducing pH and increasing milk temperature during coagulation, increasing the level of added rennet and/or by the addition of CaCl 2 to the cheese-milk [54,55] or by pH cycling [129].…”

“…Flavour intensity is reduced in cheeses made from strongly heated milk [5,8,48] but bitterness was largely eliminated by a reduction in rennet quantities used [6].…”

“…Guinee et al [48] attributed decreased cheese firmness with increased heating severity of milk to increased cheese moisture and decreased protein content. Adjustment of pH to 6.2 prior to renneting resulted in Cheddar cheese with a texture comparable to control cheese [5,8] and Banks et al [9] reported that manipulation of pH prior to heating had a significant effect on melt characteristics of a Cheddartype cheese.…”

Low-Fat Cheese: A Modern Demand

“…Whey proteins denatured by high heat treatment (>801°C) have increased water absorption capacity and have been used in the manufacture of reduced fat Havarti-type cheese (Lo and Bastian, 1998) and low fat Edam cheese (Schreiber et al, 1998). Excessive whey protein addition is likely to interfere with rennet curd formation and ultimately adversely affect cheese quality (Guinee et al, 1998). Schreiber et al (1998) suggested use of 0.5% whey protein aggregates.…”