Optimisation of Manufacture and Quality of Cottage Cheese

Ljubica Tratnik¹*, Rajka Božanić¹, Goran Mioković¹ and Drago Šubarić<sup>2

1</sup>Faculty of Food Technology and Biotechnology, University of Zagreb, p.p. 625, HR-10001 Zagreb, Croatia
²Faculty of Food Technology, University of Osijek, Josip Juraj Strossmayer, p.p. 349, HR-31000 Osijek, Croatia

Article history:
Received July 14, 2000
Accepted October 26, 2000

Key words:
Cottage cheese, skim milk, ultrafiltration, composition, yield, sensory evaluation

Summary:
Cottage cheese is a type of fresh soft cheese consisting of individual grains. The manufacture of Cottage cheese from control skim milk with 0.05 % fat (A), skim milk fortified with 1.5 % (w/v) skim milk powder (B), ultrafiltered skim milk with an average of 5.3 % protein (C) and 7.4 % protein (D), as well as from reconstituted skim milk with an average of 11 % total solids (E), were investigated. The fermentation of skim milk was performed at 22 °C with 0.5 % (v/v) mesophilic technical »O« type culture and without rennet addition. The variation of skim milk composition had an important influence on milk fermentation time (16.5–20.5 h), pH value of cheese curd at cutting (pH=4.45–4.82) and yield of cheese (14.6–34.3 %; w/v). Control Cottage cheese (A), made from skim milk (
≈8.5 % total solids), had a higher content of water than defined (max. 80 %) by the International Standard. With increased total solids and protein content of cheese milk, the cheeses were higher in protein and ash content and, consequently, lower in water content. Cottage cheese curd made from ultrafiltered skim milk (C and D) were compared to other curds (A, B and E), slightly larger and firmer, more uniform in size and of porcelain shine. The dressing for salted and sweet Creamed Cottage cheese was prepared with commercial sour cream (12 % fat), salt (3 %) or sucrose (25 %) (w/w). All curd samples, mixed with salted dressing (ratio of 1:1) showed softer consistency, but when mixed with sweet dressing (ratio of 3:2) the consistency became firmer during storage at 8 °C. Creamed Cottage cheese (C) prepared from ultrafiltered skim milk had, regardless of the type of dressing, the best sensory characteristics during the entire storage period of 14 days. 

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