The effects of ripening on some physicochemical and microbiological characteristics of Çökelek cheeses: A market survey of fresh and skin-ripened Çökelek

Çökelek is a type of cheese produced via heating of skimmed uttermilk containing low-or no-fat. It is an important healthy dairy product being a cheap and good source of animal protein with low calorie. The present study evaluated some of the characteristics of fresh and skin-ripened Çökelek cheeses available in the Turkish market including compositional, microbiological, electrophoretic and colourimetric properties. The higher contents of total solids, salt and ash in the skin-ripened Çökelek were found to be the main compositional differences. None of the Çökelek samples contained Escherichia coli, coliforms, and fecal coliforms while the yeast and mould counts were 7.3 and 8.2 log cfu/g for fresh and ripened Çökelek samples, respectively. In terms of nitrogen fractions, there was no big difference determined between fresh and ripened samples suggesting that ripening did not affect proteolysis rates of Çökelek considerably. The ripened samples had lower brightness values (L*) while redness (a*) and yellowness (b*) values were higher compared to the fresh ones