A research on using different starter culture combinations in mihalic cheese production

In this study, in the production of Mihaliç cheese, which is one of our traditional cheeses that has economic importance, different starter culture combinations and cooking temperatures were used, choosing the best culture combination and cooking temperature to provide standardization was aimed. For this purpose, starter culture combinations consisting Propionibacterium spp., Streptococcus thermophilus, Lactobacillus helveticus, Leuconostoc mesentroides ssp. cremoris were used, no culture was used for control group. In the research, for cheeses with same culture combinations, two different cooking temperatures including 45°C and 40°C were used. In our study, it was determined that characteristic eyes formation for Mihaliç cheese was occurred for all cheeses. Cheeses ripened for 90 days were evaluated during the storage in terms of features physical, chemical, microbiological and sensory properties by comprising previous studies. From the microbiological point it was seen that culture bacteria have protect their activities substantially. In our study for all cheeses eye formation, which is characteristic feature of Mihaliç cheese, is determined. Result of the evaluations, using starter culture has no adversely affect to quality characteristics of Mihaliç cheeses, on the contrary starter culture accelerated ripening and in point of sensory characteristics it provided important contributions to cheeses.