The purpose of this study is to improve texture, flavor and overall quality of low-fat white soft cheese.
Using sodium caseinate (SC) and / or butter milk powder (BMP) in different ratios. Buffalo's milk was divided into two portions. The first portion was standardized to 3% fat and served as a control (1). The second portion was standardized to 1% fat and sub divided into five parts, the first part was served as control (2), the second part fortified with 2% SC (T1), the third part fortified with 2% BMP (T2), forth part fortified with 1% SC + 1% BMP (T3) and fifth part fortified with 0.5% SC + 1.5% BMP (T4). All cheese treatments stored in salted whey (5% NaCl) at 5±2°C up to 3 months.
The results indicated that, control (2) had obviously lower moisture content than control (1). Addition of sodium caseinate and / or butter milk powder to cheese milk led to an increase in moisture content of resultant cheese compared to control (2). A slight increase was observed in total nitrogen % of low-fat all soft cheese treatments versus control (2) being more obvious in T2 and T3. Low-fat soft cheese treatments were characterized by higher soluble nitrogen % than control (2). Moreover, the results showed also that, replacing of milk fat with SC + BMP caused a decrease in hardness, adhesiveness, springiness, chewiness and gumminess in fresh cheese compared to control (2). Sensory properties of Low-fat soft cheese were highly improved by adding SC + BMP to cheese milk as a fat replacer. Low-fat soft cheese was most preferable in T3 with adding SC + BMP (1:1), those improved the compositional as well as the organoleptical properties, especially its body and texture of low fat brined soft cheese after 90 days of cold storage.