The effect of quinoa germs on the quality of wheyless cheese

The production of imitation whey-less cheeses is one of the new achievements in the dairy industry, which has been noted for its nutritional and economic aspects. In these cheeses, it is possible to increase the nutritional value of cheese and decrease the production costs by using plant ingredients. The effect of quinoa germs was investigated on the physicochemical properties, phenol compounds, textural profile, and microbial and sensory properties of whey-less cheese. The results showed that with increasing quinoa germs, the dry matter, acidity, and fat in dry matter content increased and moisture and protein content decreased in all samples (p<0.05). The value of hardness, springiness and cohesiveness of the samples containing quinoa germs were significantly lower than the control sample (without quinoa germs). However, the samples with higher amounts of quinoa germs had the highest hardness, springiness, cohesiveness, gumminess and chewiness compared to the ones with lower values of quinoa germs (p<0.05). According to the sensory results, the flavor score was significantly improved by adding the quinoa gems up to 6%. But with the increasing germs to 9 %, the flavor score decreased significantly (p<0.05). Based on the results obtained in this study, 6% of quinoa germs can be used in the preparation of whey-less functional cheese.