Pre-treatment methods of Edam cheese milk. Effect on cheese yield and quality

The effect of high-temperature heat treatment (HH), microfiltration (MF) and ultrafiltration (UF) on the Edam vat milk composition, processing and cheese yield, ripening and functional characteristics were studied. The protein level of the MF and UF cheese milk was adjusted to 42 g/kg, whereas the level in the reference (REF) and HH milk was 34 g/kg. The cheese yield from ultrafiltration and microfiltration milk (CYv) was 12.8 g/100 g milk, yield from reference and high-temperature heat treatment milk was 10.1 and 10.2 g/100 g milk, respectively. The adjusted cheese yield (ACYr), calculated from raw milk, was lowest when MF was used. The pre-concentration method had little effect on the starter activity: no differences were observed in the pH of cheeses. The compositions of the ripened cheeses were comparable. The casein to fat ratio of MF cheese was elevated, possibly due to elevated casein to fat ratio of vat milk. Even though the high-temperature heat treatment, ultrafiltration and microfiltration cheeses were harder than reference cheese, they retained their elasticity. Resilience was significantly higher with microfiltration and ultrafiltration cheeses. The sensory quality of all cheeses was considered according to specification. The pre-treatment methods had little effect on the processing characteristics, cheese quality or yield when calculated on the basis of the quantity of original milk.