Quality indicators of traditional Bulgarian artisanal sheep’s cheese

¹ Department of Tourism and Culinary Management, Faculty of Economics, University of Food Technologies, 4002 Plovdiv, Bulgaria
² AgroBioInstitute, 1164 Sofia, Bulgaria
³ Department of Milk and Dairy Products Technology, Technological Faculty, University of Food Technologies, 4002 Plovdiv, Bulgaria
⁴ Food Microbiology and Biotechnology Laboratory, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, Greensboro, NC27411, USA

^* Corresponding author: docstankov@gmail.com

Abstract

The aim of the present study is focused on the evaluation of the quality parameters of artisan sheep cheese produced by old Bulgarian technology. The study was carried out in three stages - at the end of the ripening process (45th day), during and at the end of storage (180th and 360th day). An increase of 9.0% in dry matter and a decrease in water content and titratable acidity values were observed over the entire period studied. There was a decrease in oleic fatty acid (C18:1n9c) from 28.16% at day 45 to 26.09% at day 360 of ripening. In the case of palmitic acid (C16:0) the values recorded were similar from 30.24% (45th day) to 30.74% (360th day). Changes in the composition of organic acids were observed, with lactic acid levels decreasing from 27.66% at day 45 to 8.62% at day 360. After microbiological analysis, it was found that the main microflora present in the samples were representatives of lactic acid microorganisms as compared to the non-starter microflora.