Determining the Optimum Ripening Time of Iranian White Cheese by Response Surface Method

In order to determine the effect of different ripening time and ripening temperature conditions on the flavor، aroma and texture development and its acceptability for consumer and also selecting the optimum conditions of cheese ripening، an analysis was done with CRD test and three replications on 4 types of cheese having different ripening conditions including: traditional cheese A (two weeks at 16 0C and one month at 4 0C) - traditional cheese B (one week at room temperature and one month at 14 0C) - UF-C cheese (one day at room temperature and 10 days at 18 0C and two weeks at 4 0C) - UF-D cheese (one day at 25 0C and 4 days at 4 0C). Chemical properties such as NPN/TN (non protein nitrogen to total nitrogen)، ADV (acid degree value) and total acceptance at different storage time analyzed. The results showed that traditional cheese A and UF-D had the largest and lowest contents of NPN/TN، ADV and total acceptance، respectively. The effect of increasing NPN/TN، ADV on sensorial characteristics and total acceptance of cheese was not significant for UF-D only، and total acceptance increase showed the maximum amounts at the initial two weeks in the other samples. At the same time and temperature، traditional cheese had larger amounts of NPN/TN but UF type cheese had larger amounts of ADV. Modeling of the results by Response Surface Method indicated that the effect of increasing values of ADV (lipolysis) was greater than NPN/TN (proteolysis) on the intensity of cheese ripening process and total acceptance، and therefore between 4 types of cheese optimum ripening conditions was for traditional B.