Manufacturing parameters and rheological characteristics of cheddar-like hard goat cheese

Raw milk from French Alpine goats was processed to Cheddar-like hard goat cheese. After milling, the curd was split into three portions and salted separately at the rate of 2.5, 3.0, and 4.0% of the curd for each of the three replicates. Cheeses were stored at 4 to 5 degrees C for 24 wk. The percentages of salt in moisture of the cheeses were 2.70, 3.73, and 4.41%, respectively. The pH ranged from 5.27 to 5.33 at 1 d to 5.60 to 5.81 at 24 wk. Rheological properties were determined using an Instron Universal Testing Machine, The force required to deform cheese was used to measure cheese firmness. Cheese firmness at 95% compression decreased significantly during aging. The firmness of cheeses with different ratios of salt to moisture differed during the ripening period. The force at fracture of the cheese was higher for cheese with higher salt content; the force increased until wk 12 of aging and then decreased until the end of the aging period. Mean bulk elasticity of cheese at 20% compression differed among all treatments. The mean elasticity increased significantly until wk 12 of aging and then remained unchanged for the rest of the ripening period.