TITLE:
Use of Pergularia tomentosa Plant Enzymatic Coagulant System in Fresh Cheese-Making
AUTHORS:
F. A. Benyahia, O. Aissaoui Zitoun, B. Meghzili, E. Foufou, M. N. Zidoune
KEYWORDS:
Pergularia tomentosa, Coagulant Enzymatic System (C.E.S), Fresh Cheese, Sensory Analysis, Yield
JOURNAL NAME:
Food and Nutrition Sciences,
Vol.12 No.11,
November
16,
2021
ABSTRACT: Introduction: Pergularia tomentosa is a saharan spontaneous plant belonging to Asclepiadacea family. It has several medicinal properties and uses in the human food as
an auxiliary in cheese-making. The purpose of this study is the extraction of
the coagulant enzymatic system (C.E.S) from the plant dried leaves and its use
in the preparation of fresh cheese. Materials & Methods: The determination of the coagulant activity was
carried out on a skimmed milk powder by Berridge’s method.
Cow’s milk used for coagulant strength determination and cheese-making. Proteolytic activity. The chemical determinations of
raw milk were carried out according to AFNOR analysis methods. A descriptive sensory evaluation was performed to determine the organoleptic properties of the produced cheese. The proteolytic
activity was determined by measuring the aspartyl-protease units. Results: The main results of the physico-chemical
characterization show that its coagulant activity (R.U mL-1) was 97.19 ± 4.67, coagulant strength (SU) was 230.05 ± 0.37, proteolytic
activity (μg·mL-1) was 0.33 ± 0.04 and coagulant
activity/proteolytic activity ratio was 294.51.
For the cheese made, it has presented the following results as % (g/100g): titrable
acidity 0.80 ± 0.005, total dry extract 30.48 ± 1.490, fat 2.32 ± 0.02, fresh yield 11.5 ± 0.09, dry yield 30.06 ± 0.05. Moreover, sensory
analysis results showed that fresh cheese
prepared from Pergularia tomentosa dried leaves diluted enzymatic extract filtrate was characterized by whitish
color, smooth texture, with
acceptable and satisfying lactic taste. Conclusion: The plant enzymatic
system studied could be added to the list of plant rennet substitutes and,
thus, contributes to the manufacture of
enzymatic coagulation cheese.