The changes in ripening of tulum cheese produced using kefir starter

In this study, it was aimed to determine the changes in chemical, biochemical, microbiological and sensory features during the ripening of Tulum cheese made with different starters. Cow milk was used for Tulum cheese making and divided into three groups and the first group of the milk was used as raw (ÇTP), the second group was pasteurized and inoculated with mesophilic starter (MTP) and third group was also pasteurized and inoculated with kefir culture (KTP). The Tulum cheeses were ripened for a total of 6 month, firstly 10 days at 10 °C and the rest time of ripening at 4 °C. Cheese samples were analyzed on days 0, 30, 60, 90 and 180 of ripening. According to the obtained results; the highest overall average dry matter % 57.18, acidity % 0.49, water soluble nitrogen % 0.547, trichloroacetic acid soluble nitrogen % 0.355 phosphotungoustic acid soluble nitrogen % 0.105, lipolysis value % 2.95, the highest mesophilic total live bacteria 7.24 log cfu/g and coliform counts 5.61 log cfu/g were determined in ÇTP samples. The highest fat % 28.15 and salt ratios % 3.54 were obtained from MTP samples. The lowest dry matter % 52.17, fat % 24.83, acidity % 0.33, water soluble nitrogen % 0.405, trichloroacetic acid soluble nitrogen % 0.237, phosphotungoustic acid soluble nitrogen % 0.063, lipolysis value % 1.49 as, were obtained from KTP cheese samples. Sensory analysis showed that 45 % of the panelists preferred ÇTP cheese samples on the 180th day of maturation, 30 % of them preferred KTP cheese samples and 25 % of them preferred MTP samples at first. In terms of color and appearance, 45 % (the highest ratio) of the panelists preferred KTP cheese samples at first.