Effects of reducing fat content on the proteolytic and rheological properties of Cheddar-like caprine milk cheese

High-moisture Cheddar-like cheeses made from caprine milk containing 3.6, 2.0, 1.0, and 0.1–0.5% fat were manufactured and their proteolytic and rheological properties compared after 1, 3, and 6 mo of aging at 4 °C. The full-fat (FF), reduced-fat (RF), low-fat (LF), and non-fat (NF) cheeses contained 48.7, 50.0, 51.5 and 55.2% moisture and 26.3, 19.0, 9.65, and 1.50% fat, respectively. Although the amount of protein in the cheese increased as fat was reduced, the FF, RF, and LF cheeses had 40–44% degradation of beta-casein over the 6 mo of the study while minimal proteolysis (14%) occurred in the NF cheese. The NF cheese exhibited the highest hardness, cohesiveness, chewiness, elastic modulus, viscous modulus, and complex viscosity values due to the denser protein matrix. The FF and RF cheeses had similar rheological values. The fat content of high-moisture Cheddar-like goat cheese can be lowered to 19% without affecting its texture.