Effects of the use of cow's and ewe's milk and different salting techniques on the quality properties of Maras cheese

Different salting techniques were used on Marag cheese samples produced from cow's, ewe's and a mixture (1:1) of cow and ewe's milk. In the first group, samples were immersed 22% the brine solution for 3 hours then transferred into 10% brine solution. In the second group, samples were salted with 1% dry salt and after 24 hours were immersed in 13% brine solution. The cheese samples were analysed for chemical, microbiological and sensory properties on the first day of production and after 15, 30, 60 and 90 days of ripening. There were no statistical differences in the salt and ash contents and aw values of the cheese samples produced from different types of milk. The samples produced from ewe's milk had lower moisture content and acidity values, and higher fat content and pH values than the other groups. The type of milk had no effect on the general viable counts, coliforms, fecal streptococci, yeast or moulds. With different salting techniques of the chemical properties, the dry matter and fat contents in samples of Group II were higher than those in Group I. general viable count contents of the Group I samples were lower than those of Group II. The yeast and mould count contents of Group I were also found to be lower than those of Group ii after 15, 30 and 90 days of ripening. In the sensory analyses, the samples of Group II were found to be of better quality.