COMPARATIVE STUDY OF SHEEP MILK, WHEY AND TRADITIONAL KASHKAVAL FROM GALICHNIK AND LAZAROPOLE

Abstract

Traditional cheeses are a reflection of the local rural environment, culture and nature expressed by experience of masters through many decades. In recent years, it is noticed increased consumption of traditional sheep dairy products, especially cheese produced by traditional technology. The purpose of this study was to examine the quality of raw sheep's milk and whey during the production of traditional sheep cheese from two locations, Galichnik and Lazaropole. Samples were taken in four iterations. The physico-chemical composition on the 100th day of ripening of cheese is presented also. The mean fat content was 8.45± 1.157% in milk from Galichnik and 8.69±0.846% in milk from Lazaropole, while the protein was 6.34±0.837% and 6.15±0.242% respectively. Titratable acidity in Galichnik milk was 10.33°SH and the milk from Lazaropole has 10.50°SH. The Total bacteria count (TBC) and the Somatic cell count (SCC) in both locations showed wide range due to nonstandard sanitary procedures applied in primary production. The results of the chemical composition of whey showed that it has a variable composition, particular in the content of fat (Cv= 9.02% Galichnik and 21.98% Lazaropole) due to the traditional procedure for making cheese. The moisture content of the cheese on 100th day of ripening was 36.64% in cheese from Galichnik and 32.63% in Lazaropole cheese. The mean value for fat content was 27.88% and 30.00% for cheese from Galichnik and Lazaropole respectively. According to the classification of cheese in terms of moisture content on a fat-free basis, after 100 days of ripening, the kashkaval cheese from Galichnik had fallen in the group of hard cheeses, while the kashkaval cheese from Lazaropole belong to the group of extra-hard cheeses. Regarding the fat in dry matter, both cheese variants were on the border between medium fat and full fat cheeses.