Evaluation of the rheological, textural, microstructural and sensory properties of soy cheese spreads

• Soy cheese spread was made from soybean without any milk solid added.
• Different processing techniques were investigated to produce soy cheese spread.
• Rheological, textural, microstructural and sensory properties were evaluated.
• Different coagulation processes resulted in significant differences in properties.
• Enzymatic hydrolysis process led to effective improvement in cheese properties.

In this work, different processes including lactic acid bacteria fermentation, glucono-δ-lactone (GDL) coagulation and enzymatic hydrolysis were applied to produce soy cheese spread without any milk solid and/or alkaline metal caseinates added. All the soy cheese spread samples were studied with respect to the differences in the textural properties – utilizing TPA and rheological behavior, besides their microstructural features and sensory assessment. In addition, urea–SDS-PAGE assay was used to investigate the proteolysis in enzymatic hydrolysis process. As a result, the soy cheese spread sample produced by the combined use of GDL and lactic acid bacteria fermentation together with enzymatic hydrolysis process, was observed with better spread-ability, more acceptable sensory features, and stable homogeneous structure than other samples.