Technology and chemical composition of beaten cheese in Republic of Macedonia
Beaten cheese is autochthonous product of our country whose production started long time ago. In the past it was produced only in the region Mariovo where it was made from pure sheep milk, but today it is produced in other regions of the country and from mix of sheep and cow milk and mix from sheep and goat milk. In the most parts of the country beaten cheese is manufactured in industrial conditions, but in some places it is still made at home. According to our research using two different types of renet, Chy-max (genetic rennet) and Stabbo (combined rennet) we developed technology for production of two variants of beaten cheese by industrial way. Chemical composition of beaten cheese produced by genetic rennet on 45th day of the ripening was: dry matter 59.67%, fat 21.74%, proteins 21.95%, salt 3.58%, acidity 191oT and pH 5.24. Beaten cheese made using combined rennet showed this chemical composition: dry matter 58.01%, fat 21.54%, proteins 22.09, salt 3.51%, acidity 184oT and pH 5.17. The level of protein hydrolyses was in the type produced with combined rennet. Soluble nitrogen at the end of ripening was 0.66%, primary nitrogen materials 0.60% and secondary nitrogen materials 0.05%. On 45th day of ripening in brine quantity of soluble nitrogen in beaten cheese made with genetic rennet was 0.62%, primary nitrogen materials 0.57% and secondary nitrogen materials 0.05%. The kinetics of salt diffusion was nearly equal and to the end of ripening in the first variant it was 3.5% and in the second 3.51%. Because the level of dry matter used in first type was higher, cheese yield was 10.96%, compared to the second type where cheese yield was 8.63%.