Lipolysis in reduced sodium Kefalograviera cheese made by partial replacement of NaCl with KCl

Kefalograviera cheeses (five trials) of different sodium contents were made from split lots of curd by varying the salting processes, i.e. brine- and dry-salting with NaC1 (control) or a mixture of NaClJ/Cl (3:1 or 1:1, w/w basis). Lipolysis in cheeses was monitored during aging by the acid degree value (ADV) method and gas chromatography (GC). It was found that the ADV of control and experimental cheeses were similar (P>0.05) at all sampling ages (5, 25, 60, 90 and 180 days). Moreover, the results of GC showed that there were neither qualitative nor significant (P>0.05) quantitative differences in the levels of individual free fatty acids of the control and experimental cheeses at the age of 90 and 180 days. These findings indicated that the partial replacement of NaCl with KCl in the manufacture of Kefalograviera cheese did not significantly influence the lipolysis during cheese aging.