The Effect of Lemon (Citrus limon) as a Coagulant on Fresh Cheese Chemical Composition And Storage

Abstract

Demand for fresh cheese increases along with welfare. As Indonesia has a muslim population around 200 millions therefore there is a demand for halal cheese starter. The purpose of this research was to prove that the use of lemom juice as a replacement rennet is able to coagulate milk while produce fresh cheese which is also a halal because it comes from plants.This study aims to determine the lemon juice (citrus limon) in the process of milk coagulation. This research method used a 4 x 4 Factorial Completely Randomized Design with 2 replications of factor A, levels of lemon juice, namely A0 = 0.01% rennet, A1 = 5% lemon juice, A2 = 10% lemon juice, A3 = 15% lemon juice, and factor B storage time B0 = 0 days, B1 = 5 days, B2 = 10 days and B3 = 15 days. The variables measured were chemical compositions including moisture content, dry matter content, fat content, protein content. Based on the research results, it was found that from the addition of four levels of lemon juice used and four variations of storage time, giving 10% lemon juice (A2) and storage time of 15 days (B3) was the optimal treatment to increase moisture content, dry matter content, fat content, protein content in cheese and can be used as an alternative of halal cheese starter.