Primjena odabranih mješovitih starter kultura u proizvodnji sira tipa Feta

The aim of this paper is to test the influence of mixed starter cultures on the cow's milk Feta cheese production in laboratory conditions. Textural properties of cheese were examined (hardness, adhesiveness, springiness, cohesiveness, gumminess, chewiness, resilience), also the color of the cheese, the physicochemical properties and sensory properties. The used starter culture significantly affected the basic physical and chemical properties of produced Feta cheese. The results showed that the highest yield of cheese was observed in samples which contained the yoghurt culture as a part of the starter culture (samples 2 and 6), which also had the highest contend of water in their composition, and the lowest proportion of fat, protein and total dry matter. The L* value of the color was greater than 94 in all samples so all cheeses were almost fully which is characteristically for Feta cheese. Starter culture also affected the texture profile of cheeses, with the greatest deviations from the control sample shown in sample 2, which was produced using a mixed yogurt mesophilic culture (TY-971 ± M-179), and had statistically smallest hardness and the least resistance to chewing, which is reason for the lowest sensory scores. Most sensory scores were given to control samples of cheese produced using standard Feta culture (FRC-60), and to samples of cheese produced by mixed starter culture containing probiotic bifidobacteria (FRC-60 ± BB-46, ABT-5 ± M-179).