Structural and textural characteristics of reduced-fat cheese-like products made from W1/O/W2 emulsions and skim milk

The chemical composition, yield, structural arrangement, instrumental textural characteristics, and preference sensory evaluation of reduced-fat cheese-like products manufactured from skim milk and different water-in-oil-in-water (W1/O/W2) emulsions were determined. A full-fat white fresh cheese (WFC) was prepared from milk containing 27 g of milk-fat L−1, and five reduced-fat white fresh cheese-like products (EC) were made from skim milk added with 25 g of multiple emulsions L−1 containing canola oil and stabilized/emulsified by amidated low-methoxyl pectin (LMP), carboxymethylcellulose (CMC), gum Arabic (GA), and blends of GA–CMC or GA–LMP. The chemical composition, yield, structural arrangement and texture of the cheese-like products were affected by the biopolymers used as emulsifying/stabilizing agents of the multiple emulsions. CMC produced an EC with similar textural behaviour than the WFC cheese. GA contributed to a higher yield and fat content in the EC cheese in comparison with CMC and LMP cheese. GA and LMP contributed to increased values of hardness and chewiness of the EC cheese. The cheese made with multiple emulsions incorporating GA and LMP emulated best the textural characteristics of the WFC cheese. All of the EC cheese showed marked differences in microstructure.