Flavour enhancement of low-fat Feta-type cheese using a commercial adjunct culture

The effect of a commercial adjunct culture (CR-213), containing Lactococcus lactis subsp. cremoris and Lactococcus lactis subsp.lactis, added at the level of 0.06 or 0.09% (w/w) to cheese milk, on the characteristics of the resultant low-fat Feta-type cheese during aging, was studied. Two controls, a full-fat cheese (∼22% fat) and a low-fat cheese (∼7% fat, made using the standard procedure), were also prepared. The results indicated that the adjunct containing low-fat cheeses exhibited no significant (P>0.05) differences in compositional (moisture, fat, protein, salt, pH) or textural (force and compression to fracture, hardness) characteristics in comparison with the low-fat control cheese. It was also found that the use of the adjunct culture slightly improved the flavour intensity of the low-fat cheese which received a flavour score similar to that of the full-fat control cheese. Moreover, the experimental low-fat cheeses received significantly (P<0.05) higher total scores (overall quality) than the low-fat control cheese but lower than the full-fat cheese.