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Review
. 2022 Apr 19:9:868320.
doi: 10.3389/fnut.2022.868320. eCollection 2022.

The Texture of Camel Milk Cheese: Effects of Milk Composition, Coagulants, and Processing Conditions

Mustapha Mbye  1 , Mutamed Ayyash  1 , Basim Abu-Jdayil  2 , Afaf Kamal-Eldin  1
Affiliations
Review

The Texture of Camel Milk Cheese: Effects of Milk Composition, Coagulants, and Processing Conditions

Mustapha Mbye et al. Front Nutr. .

Abstract

Numerous people in African, Middle Asian, Middle Eastern, and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries highly value camel milk (CM) as it plays a vital role in their diet. The protein composition of CM as well as the structure of its casein micelles differs significantly from bovine milk (BM). Cheeses made from CM have a weak curd and soft texture compared to those made from BM. This review article presents and discusses the effect of milk protein composition, processing conditions (pasteurization and high-pressure treatment), and coagulants (camel chymosin, organic acids, plant proteases) on the quality of CM cheeses. CM cheese's weak texture is due to compositional characteristics of the milk, including low κ-casein-to-β-casein ratio (≈0.05 in CM vs. ≈0.33 in BM), large micelle size, different whey protein components, and higher proteolytic activity than BM. CM cheese texture can be improved by preheating the milk at low temperatures or by high pressure. Supplementing CM with calcium has shown inconsistent results on cheese texture, which may be due to interactions with other processing conditions. Despite their structure, CM cheeses are generally well liked in sensory studies.

Keywords: bovine milk cheese; camel milk cheese; coagulants; high pressure processing; pasteurization.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Photographs of camel and bovine milk cheeses produced by using chymosin (50 IMCU/L milk) or 30%citric acid. (A) Camel milk cheese made with chymosin, (B) Bovine milk cheese made with chymosin, (C) Camel milk cheese made with citric acid, and (D) Bovine milk cheese made with citric acid.
Figure 2
Figure 2
SDS-PAGE electropherograms of the camel and bovine milk cheeses showing proteolysis in the camel milk cheeses.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Correlations between camel and bovine cheese hardness and yield showing similar trends but different magnitudes. Source: Mbye et al. (76).
Figure 4
Figure 4
Milk compositional factors that contribute to the soft texture of CM cheese.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Important considerations during the preparation of camel milk cheese.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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