The effects of ripening on some physicochemical and microbiological characteristics of Cokelek cheeses: A market survey of fresh and skin-ripened Cokelek

Abstract

Cokelek is a type of cheese produced via heating of skimmed buttermilk containing low- or no-fat. It is an important healthy dairy product being a cheap and good source of animal protein with low calorie. The present study evaluated some of the characteristics of fresh and skin-ripened cokelek cheeses available in the Turkish market including compositional, microbiological, electrophoretic and colourimetric properties. The higher contents of total solids, salt and ash in the skin-ripened cokelek were found to be the main compositional differences. None of the cokelek samples contained Escherichia coli, coliforms, and fecal coliforms while the yeast and mould counts were 7.3 and 8.2 log cfu/g for fresh and ripened Cokelek samples, respectively. In terms of nitrogen fractions, there was no big difference determined between fresh and ripened samples suggesting that ripening did not affect proteolysis rates of cokelek considerably. The ripened samples had lower brightness values (L*) while redness (a*) and yellowness (b*) values were higher compared to the fresh ones.