Production of Pre Ripened Provolone Cheese and Quality Characterization Using Blends of Whole Milk

Cheese is a product made from the curd obtained from milk by coagulating the casein with the help of rennet in the presence of lactic acid produced by added starter culture. The study was aimed to evaluate the yield and quality of pre ripened provolone cheese prepared from different blends of cow, doe, ewe and camel whole milk. The sources of milk were from Hawassa town, Langano and Kofele areas of Oromiya region. Pre ripened provolone cheeses were made from blends contained ratio between 60-80%, 10-30%, 10-30% and 0-20% for cow, doe, ewe and camel milk, respectively using standard procedure. The whole milk and its pre ripened provolone cheeses were subjected to physicochemical analyses. The physicochemical analyses, selected minerals, bioactive compounds, microbial quality and consumer acceptability of the pre ripened provolone cheese were analyzed. The blending proportion of different milk had significant (P<0.05) effect on the physiochemical property, mineral, bioactive and sensory quality of pre ripened provolone cheese. The physiochemical property of whole milk for manufacture of pre ripened provolone cheeses were in the range between 10.56 to 15.08% for total solids, 3.45 to 5.20% for fat and 3 to 4.19% for crude protein. The chemical composition of pre ripened provolone cheese prepared from different blended milk ranged from 47.32- 67.05% for total solids, 24.26 – 36.81% for fat, 17.78 – 26.30% for crude protein, 1.09 – 3.49% for total ash, and 0.75 – 2.98% for lactose; ascorbic acid (0.49 to 3.08 mg/kg) and total polyphenols (1.00 to 17.50 (mg GAE/g). The fat, protein and total solids recovery of pre ripened provolone cheeses ranged from 64.87% to 95.39%, 54.58% to 84.67% and 41.35% to 59.92% respectively. The yield of pre ripened provolone cheese ranged from 9.22% to 13.47%.  Total bacteria count was found to be the predominant micro flora of pre ripened provolone cheeses and reached 5.24 cfu/g in the control cheese. The entire consumer acceptability of the pre ripened provolone cheese was in acceptable range. In conclusion, the pre ripened provolone cheese prepared from T12 (60% cow, 10% doe and 30% ewe) milk gave better cheese yield and had auspicious results in nutritional qualities comparable with that of control cheese and other cheese samples. Keywords: Blends of whole milk, cheese yield, pre-ripened provolone cheese, quality characterization DOI: 10.7176/ALST/82-01 Publication date: October 31 st 2020