The Flavor of Dairy Products from Grass-Fed Cows

The milks used for manufacturing bovine dairy products are not all equal. The feeding regimen of lactating cows can widely vary, giving rise to remarkable compositional differences. Recently, grass-fed/based milk and transformed products are being taken into great consideration due to their more favorable nutritional characteristics and better sustainability over those from intensive systems. Besides these well-established aspects, the existence of differences in flavor is highly debated. The “cheese story tellers” consider it as a proven fact and tend to directly link the aroma of grass-based dairy products to the plants the animals ate. Unfortunately, this claim is not yet supported by scientific data. Actually, there is sufficient evidence of the presence of a distinctive aroma in milk from grass-fed cows, but the connection with specific aroma-active compounds is still in progress. In addition to this, the role of some compounds deriving from cow’s metabolism seems to be much more important than that of other compounds that directly derive from feed. The situation in transformed products, in particular cheese, is even more complicated due to the overlapping of flavor compounds originating from technological operations, microbial metabolism and enzyme activities during storage or ripening. Further work is still needed to answer the question, but the increasing application of a flavoromics approach to the studies should rapidly bring about a decisive contribution to the knowledg

Chemical and Technological Characterization of Dairy Products

The dairy sector is facing a decisive challenge in developed countries, which could deeply influence its future and its historical status of being a pillar for human nutrition. The most challenging issue is to give suitable answers to the demand for nutritionally balanced and environmentally sustainable products, the two main aspects of the new “food paradigm” that increasingly sees foods as drugs (specifically renamed as “nutraceuticals”) and imposes a stringent eco-friendly approach in their production (“green foods”) [1,2]. In this context, all animal products are often met with hostility that is not always justified under the scientific point of view, particularly when it results in imposing their complete elimination [3,4]. As expected, this challenge has soon been met by researchers in dairy and food sciences, who are giving suitable scientific answers and are driving dairy farms and industries to develop new products and processes that can better satisfy the new requirements. In this context, the Special Issue “Chemical and Technological Characterization of Dairy Products” has collected 13 articles (12 original researches and one review) that give an interesting contribution to the field. The articles can be grouped into three categories: the first one concerns product innovation and includes eight papers reporting technological and compositional details on innovative dairy products developed in line with the nutritional and/or environmental requirements mentioned above; the second one has an interdisciplinary approach (animal husbandry-food technology) and is made of three studies aimed to deepen the influence of the cattle rearing conditions on cheese quality; the third one contains two papers dealing with different aspects of dairy science

Making cheese with caprifig sap in Apulia, Italy: possible rebirth of an ancient tradition

Abstract Background and objectives Making cheese by coagulating milk with extracts or parts of plants is a tradition of many countries facing the Mediterranean basin. Such cheeses were historically produced from sheep and goat milk and represent an important cultural heritage. In the European Union (EU), nowadays, their production is allowed only after legal validation of the manufacturing process under the hygienic point of view. Unfortunately, validation has been possible only for a few Protected Designation of Origin cheeses, but other dairy products exist for which it has not been carried out. It is the case of the caprifig sap cheeses produced in the "Murgia" highplain, Apulia region, Southern Italy. In this rural marginal area, three cheeses have been historically made by this coagulant: milk sap ricotta, Pampanella, and Cacioricotta. Due to the above legal concerns, they have become very rare and, if no action is taken, they will disappear very soon. The main purpose of the present work was to make a survey about the status of preservation of their processing methods and to document them before it is too late. A second aim was to perform a first summary investigation about their safety and compositional and sensory characteristics. Methods A series of face-to-face interviews was conducted to owners and cheesemakers of sheep and goat farms laying in the Murgia Hills territory. Cheese samples were prepared at three different rural dairies and subjected to chemical, microbiological, and sensory analyses. Results and conclusions The survey confirmed that caprifig sap cheeses are still occasionally produced for family consumption, mainly from goat milk in the southern part of the highplain. They have the common characteristic of deriving from milk subjected to strong heat treatment and containing both casein and whey proteins. The manufacturing procedures were observed, and two different methods of preparing and using caprifig sap were documented. The cheesemaking process was analyzed and discussed under a technological point of view, and geo-sociological connections were hypothesized. The three cheeses presented significant sensory differences and proved to potentially match the EU hygienic standards if the post-vat operations are performed under correct conditions. Overall, the study gave a contribution for the hygienic validation of the manufacturing process in view of a possible rebirth

Analysis of the water soluble compounds as a tool for discriminating traditional and industrial high moisture mozzarella made with citric acid

High moisture mozzarella from cow milk is a pasta filata cheese that can be manufactured by different protocols. Fermentation by autochthonous starter is used for the traditional product, whereas direct acidification with citric acid is widely used at industrial level. Both types are stored immersed in a liquid for preserving freshness, but this packaging method is known to favour the changes of the quality characteristics. The present study aimed to assess the evolution of the soluble compounds and to evaluate their use as chemical indices for discriminating the two types of mozzarella. The contents of lactose, organic acids, water soluble nitrogen and free aminoacids differently changed over time. The whole patterns of these soluble compounds allowed discrimination of the two products during the whole storage period. The simple analyses of lactic acid and lactose could be a rapid tool to protect traditional mozzarella from industrial imitations obtained with citric acid

Short communication: Relationships between milk quality and acidification in the production of table Mozzarella without starters.

The effect of some quality parameters of the milk (refrigeration time, pH, protein, and fat/protein ratio) on the extent of acidification in the production technology of table Mozzarella without starters was investigated. A screening phase carried out at the laboratory level demonstrated that variations of the milk characteristics require different levels of acidification to keep constant the quality of the cheese. The elaboration of the data collected throughout the successive experimentation on industrial scale allowed us to find a mathematical model to describe the relationships between the pH of the curd at stretching time and the milk characteristics, of which the protein concentration and the refrigeration time play the main roles

Cheese ripening in nonconventional conditions: A multiparameter study applied to Protected Geographical Indication Canestrato di Moliterno cheese

A multiparameter study was performed to evaluate the effect of fondaco, a traditional ripening cellar without any artificial temperature and relative humidity control, on the chemical, microbiological, and sensory characteristics of Protected Geographical Indication Canestrato di Moliterno cheese. Ripening in such a nonconventional environment was associated with lower counts of lactococci, lactobacilli, and total viable bacteria, and higher presence of enterococci, in comparison with ripening in a controlled maturation room. Moreover, fondaco cheese underwent accelerated maturation, as demonstrated by faster casein degradation, greater accumulation of free AA, and higher formation of volatile organic compounds. Secondary proteolysis, as assessed by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry of free AA and low molecular weight peptides, did not show any qualitative difference among cheeses, but fondaco samples evidenced an advanced level of peptidolysis. On the other hand, significant qualitative differences were observed in the free fatty acid profiles and in the sensory characteristics. Principal component analysis showed a clear separation of the fondaco and control cheeses, indicating that ripening in the natural room conferred unique sensory features to the product

The Impact of Early Basal Leaf Removal at Different Sides of the Canopy on Aglianico Grape Quality

It is known that early removal of basal leaves improves the exposure of cluster to direct sunlight and UV radiation, which positively influence the phenolic compounds and anthocyanin concentration of berries. This study was carried out to evaluate the eect of leaf removal applied before flowering to the basal zone of the canopy at dierent sides (fruit-zone north canopy side, south canopy side and north–south canopy side, respectively) of Aglianico vines trained to vertical shoot position system and row oriented to east–west (EW). The study was conducted in the controlled and guaranteed designation of origin (CGDO) Castel del Monte area (Apulia region, Italy). The treatment did not aect yield per vine, and nor sugar, pH, and total acidity of grapes. When it was applied to the basal south canopy side, the concentration of proanthocyanidins and total polyphenols of grapes increased, as well as antioxidant activity. In particular, anthocyanins content, determined by HPLC, increased by 20% with respect to control when treatment was applied to south and north–south canopy sides. Interaction between season period and treatment was found for all anthocyanins except for petunidin-3-coumaroyl-glucoside. Basal leaf removal applied to the north canopy side caused an increase in malvidin-3-O-glucoside content in grapes in 2016 and 2018, but not in 2017. Our results indicate that basal leaf removal (six basal leaves removed from the base of the shoots) before flowering (BBCH 57) can be used as an eective strategy to improve grape total polyphenols, anthocyanins concentration and antioxidant activity in vineyards cultivated under warm climate conditions. The treatment could represent a sustainable alternative to manual cluster thinning since it does not reduce yield per vine and can be performed mechanically

Quality Characteristics and Consumer Acceptance of High-Moisture Mozzarella Obtained from Heat-Treated Goat Milk

-moisture mozzarella is a pasta filata cheese manufactured from cow or buffalo milk that has spread all over the world. Its manufacturing from the milk of small ruminants (goat and sheep) has been recently proposed to innovate this ailing sector. Previously, a protocol was reported for making goat mozzarella from unpasteurized milk but, according to legislation, the microbiological safety of raw milk fresh cheeses is not guaranteed. In the present research, two new protocols were tested for producing mozzarella from pasteurized milk prepared by two different low-temperature long-time treatments (67 °C or 63 °C × 30 min). The obtained cheeses were subjected to physical–chemical and microbiological analyses and to consumer testing. The results showed that the heat treatments caused longer coagulation times than those reported in the literature, despite pre-acidification (at pH 5.93 or 6.35) having been performed to counterbalance the expected worsening of the coagulation aptitude. The obtained products showed differences in the chemical composition, texture, proteolysis, and lipolysis. Both pasteurization and pre-acidification played a role in determining these variations. Consumer testing indicated that mozzarella obtained from milk heated at the lower temperature and coagulated at a higher pH reached a good level of appreciation (62

Volatiles and acceptability of liqueurs from kumquat and grapefruit

The aim of this work was to produce liqueurs from "minor" citrus fruits, such as kumquat and grapefruit, characterize their volatile fraction and evaluate their acceptability by a consumer test. A limoncello sample (LP) was produced under the same conditions and used for comparison. All the new liqueurs were found to be richer in limonene and poorer in oxygenated compounds than the LP. The volatile fraction was mostly represented (85%) by limonene in grapefruit liqueur. Liqueur from kumquat peel (KP) was the richest in volatile compounds, whereas the one from kumquat whole fruit (KWF) was the poorest. This latter also had the particular feature to be the richest in sesquiterpene alcohols. Octanal and decanal, and two acetals deriving from these aldehydes (1,1-diethoxyoctane and 1,1-diethoxydecane) were most prevalent in KP and LP. The consumer test showed that all liqueurs were judged to be acceptable. Nevertheless, limoncello remained the most preferred, while the KWF liqueur obtained the best flavour score in the group of minor citrus fruits

Effects of Milk Storage Temperature at the Farm on the Characteristics of Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese: Chemical Composition and Proteolysis

Parmigiano Reggiano is a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) cheese whose official production protocol provides that milk cannot be stored at less than 18 °C at the farm. The possibility of refrigerating milk at the farm is highly debated, since it should allow for the limiting of bacterial growth, thus improving the quality of the cheese. The present research aimed to study the influence of storing the milk at 9 °C on the chemical composition and proteolysis during the ripening of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese. The experimentation considered six cheese-making trials, in which both evening and morning milks were subdivided into two parts that were maintained at 9 and 20 °C. After Parmigiano Reggiano cheese-making, one of the twin wheels obtained was analyzed after 21 months of ripening. From each cheese, two different samples were taken, one from the inner zone, and the other from the outer zone. The results of the chemical analyses evidenced that milk storage at 9 °C significantly (p ≤ 0.05) influenced fat, crude protein, soluble nitrogen and peptone nitrogen contents. Nevertheless, the differences observed with respect to the cheese obtained with milk stored under standard condition were very small and should be considered within the “normal variations” of Parmigiano Reggiano chemical characteristics