White pickled cheeses of the Domiati type were made from a 1:1 mixture of raw cows' and buffaloes' milk (5.5% fat) with and without heating momentarily to 72°e. To cheese milk were added: (a) 6.5% salt + 2% Lactobacillus casei subsp. pseudoplantarum 333C starter, (b) 9% salt + 2% Lactobacillus casei starter, (c) 9% salt + 2% Pediococcus sp. 452 starter, (d) 9% salt + 2% Leuconostoc paramesenteroides II47 starter; control cheeses were made from raw milk with either 6.5 or 9% salt. Finished cheeses were sealed in polyethylene pouches without salted whey and ripened at ambient temperature (10–25°C) for up to 5 months. Pouch-cheeses ripened without salted whey were generally attractive, uniform creamy in color, had a firm body, waxy buttery smooth texture and a pleasant flavor. Milk with 6.5% salt appeared to be preferable to milk with 9% salt for making the cheese. The highest organoleptic scores were achieved by cheese made from milk heated momentarily to 72°C and which received 6.5% salt and 2% L. casei starter. Inoculation of both raw and heated milk containing 9% salt with either L. casei subsp. pseudoplantarum 333C, Pediococcus sp. 452 or L. paramesenteroides II47 improved cheese flavor. Limburger cheese flavor was occasionally and yeasty flavor most frequently encountered. All cheeses had high DM, fat, total and soluble N, and amino acid N, with only little loss of their nutritive constituents when compared with reported values for cheese ripened in the normal way. Increasing the salt percentage in cheese milk reduced the total protein recovered in cheese. None of the cheese components examined seemed to be associated with high flavor scores. No correlation could be established between the number and types of lactic acid bacteria found and flavor intensity.
Perspectives on the contribution of lactic acid bacteria to cheese flavor development
