Effect of added milk and cream on the physicochemical, rheological and volatile compounds of Greek whey cheeses

Traditional types of Greek fresh whey cheeses are Mizithra with maximum (max) moisture content of 70%, and Manouri with max moisture content of 60% and minimum (min) fat in dry matter of 70%. Manouri cheese is a protected designation of origin (PDO) product manufactured exclusively from ovine and caprine whey and ovine and caprine milk and/or cream added to the whey. Although the addition of ovine and caprine milk and/or cream to the whey during cheese manufacture has several effects on the cheese characteristics, this is the first time that they have been studied in detail. The addition of milk to whey increased cheese hardness, while the addition of cream reduced hardness. Statistically significant differences in cheese yield, moisture, fat, acidity, total protein, lactose, ash, hardness and elasticity were also observed. The addition of milk and cream to the whey resulted in a higher number of volatile compounds. The whey cheese produced with 79% whey, 15% milk and 6% cream had the highest concentration of aromatic components. The volatile aroma compounds of whey cheeses included aldehydes, ketones, acids, esters, hydrocarbons, sulphur compounds and furans.