315: Effect of Celery Infusion on the Physicochemical, Textural, and Sensory Properties of Cottage Cheese

Introduction

There is a growing interest in developing valorized functional cheese products. In this regard, cottage cheese can be valorized fortifying with celery because the bioactive compounds of celery are beneficial for cardiovascular health and may have anti-inflammatory effects. However, it is necessary to understand how different levels of celery affect the physicochemical, textural and sensory properties of cottage cheese which influence consumers’ acceptability. The objective of this study was to develop desired quality celery infused cottage cheese based on physicochemical, textural and sensory properties.

Methods

Milk was pasteurized at 95℃ for 15 minutes and was coagulated with 0.05% citric acid to make the curd. The curd was mixed with heavy cream and salt and then zero (control), 3, 6, 9 and 12% celery (a mixture of dry celery powder and celery puree) were infused to develop five different celery infused cottage cheeses. The physicochemical (color, moisture content and water activity), textural (hardness, cohesiveness, springiness, gumminess, and chewiness), and sensory properties of cheese samples were determined and compared them with the control cheese to identify a desired celery infused cottage cheese formulation.

Results

The overall sensory results of five cheese samples on a 9-point hedonic scale indicated that the control (without celery) was the most preferred (6.76) and 12% celery infused cheese was the least preferred (6.18). The statistical analysis indicated that 3% celery (6.31) and 9% celery (6.44) infused cheese samples were in the control group. The water activity was about 0.8 for all samples. The L-value (68.34-85.33), total color difference (1.10-18.20), and the textural properties of hardness (3.91-11.58 N), cohesiveness (1.55-2.05), springiness (3.60-9.40), gumminess (6.48-21.45 N), and chewiness (56.06-121.73 N) of cheese samples varied significantly (p < 0.05) with the celery infusion in the cottage cheese.

Significance

The findings of this study indicated that 9% celery infused cottage cheese showed a very promising result to develop nutritionally valorized nutrition cottage cheese with the desired textual and sensory attributes. Hence, up to 9% celery can be infused to develop value added cottage cheese commercially.

Authors: Durga Bhavani Mahankali , Durga Siva Rama Krishna Gokavarapu, Varun Naga Sai Valluru, Sreeya Peri, Sai Sri Mamillapalli, Ganesh Allu and Pranabendu Mitra