Composition of Ewe’s Lump cheese during the production season

Abstract

Abstract Native sheep breeds provide milk, the raw material rich in nutrients for traditional cheese products, in selected cases labelled with the logo of the Traditional Specialty of the European Union. The study aimed to find out whether seasonal or other factors may significantly affect the composition of traditional Ewe’s lump cheese (“Ovčí hrudkový syr”) manufactured on a farm in the western region of Slovakia. For this purpose, 46 samples of fresh Ewe’s lump cheeses across the season of production undergo analysis following ISO standards focused on determining total fat, dry matter, protein, total casein, and ash. The mean values of the content of individual analytes were as follows: fat 28.60 g 100 g−1, dry matter 51.10%, protein 18.33 g 100 g−1, lactose 2.00 g 100 g−1, ash 2.16 g 100 g−1, casein 17.88 g 100 g−1. Based on statistical evaluation of the results, six significant differences have been found, namely: fat (.01), protein (.005), lactose (.005), dry matter (.05), ash (.001) and casein (.001). Considering all the evaluated aspects of such a product, the Traditional Ewe’s lump cheese presents relatively stable products in the content matter over the season.