Improvement of Low Fat Kashkaval Cheese Quality by Using Transglutaminase: b- The Impact on some Rheological Characteristics

Improvement of low fat Kashkaval cheese quality by using different percentages of Transglutaminase has been studied. Low fat Kashkaval cheese was made from mixture of buffalo's and cow s milk (1:1) standardized to 1% fat, treated by adding Transglutaminase (TGase) at the rate of 0.3, 0.5 and 0.7 g/Liter respectively. The resultant cheese was stored for 45 days at 10°C and 80% relative humidity.  Data showed that using Transglutaminase in low fat cheese increased moisture %, TN % and fat %, while decreased acidity % as compared to low fat control cheese. Using Transglutaminase had significant positive effect on the rheological characteristic of low fat kashkaval cheese. A linear relationship was found between the concentration of TGase used and the improvement of cheese rheological properties. It could be concluded that low fat Kashkaval cheese can be made from milk treated with 0.7 g TGase/L in order to obtain cheese of acceptable texture and good body.