EFFECT OF ADDING SOLID AND MOLTEN CHOCOLATE ON THE POLYPHENOL CONTENT, CHEMICAL, TEXTURAL, MICROBIOLOGICAL AND SENSORY ASPECTS OF PECORINO SICILIANO CHEESE DURING AGING

In this project we used two specific food products, which are typically Sicilian, Pecorino Siciliano cheese and Modica chocolate, that have unique texture and taste. “Chocolate cheese” is produced with the aim of increasing the consumption of cheese especially among children, targeting the purpose of improving public health. In this research we investigated chocolate cheese including solid and molten chocolate in three levels of 5%, 10% and 15% at four ripening times (T0 = fresh, T1 = 2 weeks, T2 = 4 weeks and T3 = 6 weeks). The results showed that the addition of chocolate significantly (p ≤ 0.05) decreased the pH, ash and protein content of the Pecorino Siciliano cheese, whereas it had no significant (p > 0.05) effect on other cheese composition (DM, fat and NaCl). In this study POV and TBARs ranged from 0.65 to 1.35 meq O2 kg-1 fat and 0.006 to 0.027 mg MDA kg-1 cheese respectively, which are in the range reported. There were significant differences (p ≤ 0.05) in polyphenols between control samples and chocolate cheese among treatments and also during ripening time. In all samples 43 fatty acids (FA) were detected; the most abundant FA were saturated FA (SFA, 70%), followed by monounsaturated FA (MUFA, 22%) and finally, the least abundant were polyunsaturated FA (PUFA, 8%). Individually, C16:0 (palmitic acid) was the most abundant molecule (23%), followed by C18:1 (oleic acid) and C14:0 (myristic) that were approximately 15% and 11% respectively.The results showed that mesophilic coccus LAB and total mesophilic count (TMC) were approximately at the same level (about 108 cfu/g) and no statistically significant differences within cheese types were found during ripening whereas, remarkable differences among mesophilic rod LAB, Enterobacteria family, total yeast and fungi filamentous were observed. In this study, hardness ranged from 0.858 N/mm2 to 1.229 N/mm2. These results showed that there is a slight significant difference between control samples and chocolate cheese including solid chocolate, whereas a significant difference between chocolate cheese with molten chocolate and control sample was observed. Sensorial analysis performed in two methods, hedonic and descriptive analysis. The results of sensory evaluation test showed that chocolate cheese including 5% chocolate after 14 days ripening time are the most proper product and this product was highly acceptable for the consumers.