Cheese specialist Zijerveld wanted its range of cheeses to include a tasty goat’s cheese with only 30 percent fat. Nobody had managed that using traditional techniques. Wageningen UR Food & Biobased Research came up with a new formula. Healthier and just as tasty

Quataert, M.C.J.

Wolkers, H.

NARCIS 

Low-fat and still creamy

Wageningen Yield 

32 WAGENINGENWORLD
Low-fat and  
still creamy 
WAGENINGENWORLD 33
IMPACT
Cheese specialist Zijerveld wanted its range of cheeses to 
include a tasty goat’s cheese with only 30 percent fat. Nobody 
had managed that using traditional techniques. Wageningen 
UR Food & Biobased Research came up with a new formula. 
Healthier and just as tasty. TEXT AND PHOTOGRAPHY HANS WOLKERS
 Goat’s cheese light is healthier than the full-cream variety but not nearly as tasty. Cheese wholesaler Zijerveld 
in Bodegraven had had one of these 30+ 
goat’s cheeses in the assortment for some 
time, but was not satisfied with it. It lacked 
the soft, creamy texture of the full-cream 
variety, and was harder and more rubbery. 
It did not seem possible to improve on  
this with traditional artisanal methods, 
however. At the behest of the cheese  
specialist, the team led by Miriam 
Quataert, product development project 
leader at Food & Biobased Research,  
went in search of a new 30+ goat’s cheese 
which did not have the drawbacks of the 
existing low-fat goat’s cheeses. 
CREAMIER 
Quataert’s team and technologists from 
Zijerveld tested several possible changes to 
the formula. This was done at Amalthea BV  
in Rijen, where goat’s cheese is produced for 
Zijerveld. The team studied whether the use 
of certain fats or of a different culture led to  
a better end product. ‘Using the right fats  
can make the cheese tastier and creamier,’  
explains Quataert. ‘But cultures have a big 
impact on the taste and the feel in the mouth 
as well.’ Enzymes from extracts from calves’ 
stomachs (rennet) cause milk proteins to  
clot into a solid mass. In combination with 
protein-splitting enzymes in rennet, these  
enzymes influence the ripening of the cheese. 
During this process the tasteless rubbery 
lump of clotted proteins is turned into a 
creamy, flavoursome product.
After various tests with different kinds of  
fat and cultures it turned out that using a dif-
ferent culture produced the best 30+ cheese. 
‘This ensures the presence of long carbohy-
drates in the cheese,’ says Quataert. ‘These 
weaken the protein network that keeps the 
cheese together, which leads to an open  
texture.’ This makes the cheese retain more 
water, resulting a creamier end product.’
TURNOVER GROWING 
The client, Zijerveld, is enthusiastic about  
the new goat’s cheese. ‘Compared with the 
existing low-fat cheese, the new variety really 
is significantly tastier,’ says food technologist 
Philippe Coerten, operations manager at 
Zijerveld. ‘In blind taste trials, the new cheese 
scored convincingly better on taste and 
creaminess.’ The new cheese is going down 
well with the consumer, partly thanks to  
active publicity. ‘We are seeing a strong 
growth in the turnover; sales are going up  
by as much as 20 percent per year,’ says 
Coerten enthusiastically. ‘Sales of this  
cheese are running at more than 70 tonnes  
a year, and are still increasing.’ W
www.wageniningenur.nl/productdevelopment-food 
‘Sales are going 
up by 20 percent 
per year’


http://library.wur.nl/WebQuery/wurpubs/fulltext/454037

Low-fat and still creamy

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

NARCIS

Wageningen Yield