EFFECT OF USING ACIDIFIED RAS CHEESE ON PROCESSED CHEESE QUALITY

Abstract

Ras cheese, is the most common hard type cheese in Egypt. It is normally manufactured from cow's, buffaloe's or mixtures of both milks. Great attention has been given to accelerate Ras cheese ripening. In study by (Gouda, et al., 1992) rindless Ras cheese like was made (acidified Ras cheese). They reporte\} that, good quality acidified Ras cheese was attained. The ripening period was reduced to half of the ripening period oftraditional Ras cheese The characteristics of the acidified Ras cheese i.e. low pH and calcium content, seems to be quite convenience for making processed cheese spread. This research work planned to study the suitability of this acidified Ras cheese in making processed cheese spread. The study was divided into two parts: Part l In the first part, acidified Ras cheese was made as reported by (Gouda, et al., 1992). They suggested the next modification: (a) Supplementing the traditional Ras cheese starter (1% Lactococcus lactis) by 0.5% yoghurt culture (St. thermophilus + L. bulgaricus) plus lactoccus lactis. cheese. (b) Development the fresh cheese pH to 5.0-5.1 compared to 5.5-5.6 for the traditional (c) Reduce the moisture contents ofthe fresh acidified cheese 39-41% compared to 42- 43% for the traditional Ras cheese.