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.