Effect of cheese coagulants on American-style natural cheese proteolysis and functional characteristics of process cheese made therefrom

Abstract

Recombinant bovine chymosin (RBC) is an enzyme routinely used in cheese manufacture. Recombinant camel chymosin (RCC) is a milk coagulant with higher clotting activity and less proteolytic activity for natural cheese manufacture. This study aimed to determine the effect of RCC and RBC on the proteolysis of natural cheese and the functionality of processed cheese (PC). Six American-style natural cheeses were manufactured utilizing two different chymosin treatments and used to produce PC at 1 month of ripening. The natural cheese made using RCC had a significantly (P < 0.05) lower level of primary proteolysis and a lower degree of hydrolysis of αS1-CN and β-CN. The RCC treatment's hot viscosity, hardness, and loss tangent were significantly (P < 0.05) higher than the RBC in the PC. These results demonstrate that RCC results in a reduced level of primary proteolysis in a natural cheese, and when utilized in PC, it increases firmness and decreases meltability.