Milk pre-treatment and free fatty acids in cheeses

Abstract

In the production of the majority of cheese varieties, two well-defined phases can be identified: manufacture and ripening, both of which include a number of processes/changes. The basic steps implicated in the protocols of cheese making are generally common for most varieties. While the nature of cheese is mainly determined by the manufacturing steps, the characteristic flavor and texture of an individual cheese type is developed during ripening. The treatments applied to milk prior to cheese making could influence the ripening process. Particularly, a large number of flavor compounds appear as a result of chemical and biochemical events, which includes the degradation of milk constituents, proteins, lactose and fat. Fat breakdown, also called lipolysis, is a particularly important event in some cheese varieties, in which the released free fatty acids contribute to cheese flavor. The present work begins by describing lipolysis patterns in cheeses and its contribution to flavor, and the structure and significance of milk fat in cheeses. Particularly, we discussed the effect of thermal (pasteurization and thermization) and non-thermal technological (bactofugation, microfiltration, ultrafiltration, homogenization and high pressure) procedures employed to cheese milk on cheese microstructure and lipolysis. In different ways, the treatments characterized in this contribution produce changes on the quality of cheese matrix and lipolysis profiles.