The effect of soybean milk, lactobacillus acidophilus and other additives such as
hot green pepper juice (HGPJ), cayenne pepper, paprika (P) and artificial green
pepper flavour (AGPF) was studied. The chemical, reological, microbiological and
organoleptical properties of ultrafiltered (UF) white soft cheese during 25 days at 4 ±
1 ° C were investigated. Results of the study clearly indicated that, the changes in the
chemical composition of cheese samples with or without soybean milk were similar
and almos of the same trend during storage. Fresh and stored cheeses prepared with
lactobacillus acidophilus had the lowest pH values and soluble nitrogen compared to
that of other treatments. The highest cholesterol content was in control followed by
cheese contained starter and those contained soybean milk without starter, however
the lowest cholesterol content was detected in treatment contained soybean milk and
starter. Addition of starter culture led to a significant decrease (P s 0.01) in cholesterol
content of fresh and during storage of UF- soft cheese. Rate of syneresis was highly
significant (P s 0.01) during storage. The penetration and syneresis of cheese
samples increased with adding HGPJ to retentate . The addition of starter improved
the keeping quality of UF- soft cheese. The count of Lactobacillus acidophilus
significantly increased ( P s 0.01 ) during storage at 4 ± 1° C and reached to its
maximum number after 8 days, however the viable counts at the end of storage were
still enough for cheese to be successful probiotic, especially when added HGPJ
Statistically, there is significant differences (P s 0.01) between treatments containing
soymilk + starter and control in total scores. The results of sensory evaluation
indicated that out of 12 formulas used to manufacture UF- soft cheese, five treatments
showed good organoleptic properties (total score ranged between 91 and 95.3). The
best results were shown by two formulas that contained CP and HGPJ, respectively.