Milk-clotting properties of plant rennets and their enzymatic, rheological, and sensory role in cheese making: A review

Abstract

Plant rennets hold an important position among various coagulants used in cheese technology. The selection of a suitable plant coagulant is important due to the increasing global demands of cheese alongside reduced supply of calf rennet. Thus, a literature synthesis is presented to investigate recent achievements on their functional properties and enzymatic role in cheese making. Efforts have also been done to compare certain rheological and sensory properties of final products, arising from some plant-and animalbased rennets. In fact, some coagulants such as actinidin or dubiumin produce cheeses with sensory qualities similar to those produced by animal rennet. Others, like ginger, cucumisin, or hieronymain proteases contribute to develop very different textures and flavours, due to excessive proteolytic activity and production of bitter peptides. For milk-clotting enzymes with high non-specific action, several improved strategies have been developed to produce cheeses with sensory properties close to those of animal rennet. For example, the mixture of coagulants (cardosins/chymosin), the selection of appropriate milk or its ultrafiltration, as well as the increase of salting time of cheese during ripening could be efficient ways to improve texture and reduce bitterness. Concerning cheeses with high yield loss, the whey could be used for a traditional production of whey cheese. To conclude, the selection of appropriate plant rennet with high milk-clotting activity/proteolytic activity ratio and the optimisation of all coagulation parameters play a central role in manufacturing cheese with superior rheological and sensory properties.

Characterization of Cynara cardunculus L. flower from Alentejo as a coagulant agent for cheesemaking

“…The type of protease (e.g., cysteine, serine and aspartic) and its specificity is of great relevance and defines its use in food processing. For cheesemaking, in general, a protease with a higher ratio between specific activity for milk coagulation (milk clotting activity, MCA) and enzymatic non-specific proteolytic activity (PA) (MCA/PA ratio) is more capable to form curd, obtaining higher yield and less bitterness development during cheese processing, while a low ratio may result in lower curd recovery, weak curd firmness and the release of bitter peptides that affect the sensory properties of the final product (Amira, Besbes, Hamadi, & Blecker, 2017;Mazorra-Manzano et al, 2013).…”

“…Nowadays, sheep cheese produced with this type of coagulant has become highly valued because of its special taste and organoleptic properties (Fern andez et al, 2006;Roseiro et al, 2003). These vegetable coagulants have other interesting uses concerning specific targets, for example, cheese production with these natural enzymes can be aimed at lactovegetarian consumers and ecological markets (Gal an, Cabezas, & Fern andez-Salguero, 2012; Khaldi, Sonnante, & El Gazzah, 2012) or to overcome religious restrictions (Amira et al, 2017;Roseiro et al, 2003).…”

Formulation of low-fat cheese analogue from sweet corn extract using papain and lime extract as coagulant

“…Panelists chose formula II as the best color, since it has a yellowish-white color. According to Ben-Amira et al (2017), cheese made from cow's milk without coloring will produce cheese that is yellowishwhite. Yellow comes from fat-soluble carotene pigments.…”

“…The effect of the lime extract is not only sour taste, but it also causes a slightly bitter taste. According to Ben-Amira et al (2017), the bitter taste in oranges is influenced by the presence of two compounds, namely flavonoids and limonoids. The main component of flavonoids is naringin, which gives the impression of an astringent to bitter taste.…”

Cardoon as a Sustainable Crop for Biomass and Bioactive Compounds Production

“…The use of cardoon flowers as coagulant allows for the production of high‐quality cheeses with specific characteristics and it has been demonstrated that additional cleavage of milk caseins contributes to the final texture and flavor properties of these cheeses . For cheese making, in general, the effects on the yield, texture and bitterness are due to the ratio between specific milk clotting activity and enzymatic non‐specific proteolytic activity . Guiné et al .…”