Development of “Quadrello di Ovino”, a Novel Fresh Ewe’s Cheese

Abstract

This work was performed to produce a new soft ewe’s milk cheese, namely “Quadrello di ovino” (QdO) cheese, to enlarge ewe’s dairy product portfolio of South Italy, barely limited to Pecorino cheese typology. Cheese making was performed applying the technology for “Crescenza” cheese typology with some modifications. In particular, pasteurized ewes’ milk was inoculated with two commercial starter formulations (SF1 and SF2) of Streptococcus thermophilus to obtain two different productions (QdO-P1 and QdO-P2, respectively). Plate counts demonstrated the ability of both starter formulations to drive the fermentation process, since S. thermophilus counts reached 109 CFU/g in both productions. Generally, the two starter formulations did not affect the chemical composition of QdO cheeses that contained, on average, 64.08% dry matter of which approximately 54.99% were fats and 36.39% proteins. Among chemical parameters, significant differences were registered for secondary lipid oxidation state (significantly lower for QdO-P2), fatty acids and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). However, the differences registered among cheese VOCs from were not perceived by the panelists who recognized both cheese productions highly similar, although QdO-P2 cheeses were mostly appreciated by the judges. This study allowed to produce a novel fresh ovine cheese with specific chemical and sensorial characteristics well appreciated by consumers.

A Thorough Investigation of the Microbiological, Physicochemical, and Sensory Properties of Ewe’s Yoghurt Fermented by a Selected Multi-Strain Starter Culture

“…It is well known that the sensory attributes of dairy products are strictly associated with the milk composition, starter cultures, heat treatment, and storage conditions [ 85 ]. For this reason, the sensory evaluation of a new dairy product is mandatory before its commercialization in the marketplace [ 86 ]. The scores of the assessors for odour intensity, colour, sweetness, acidity, and bitterness were not statistically different ( p > 0.05) among samples.…”