ACCELERATION OF RAS"KEFALOTYRI" CHEESE RIPENING BY EMPLOYMENT OF CHEESE SLURRY

Ras cheese was manufactured from standardized pasteurized buffaloes'
milk. Slurry of fully ripened Ras cheese was added 10 cheese milk as well as cheese
curd at different concenbations. Cheese samples were cured at 15!C and 85-90%
relative humidity (RH) for 4 months, and analyzed 'or chemical, micr biological and
organoleptic properties. Addition of cheese slurry to cheese curd tesulled in an
increase of yield. moisture. Utratable acidity, soluble nitrogen, soluble nitrogen
coefficient, total volatile fatty acids, formol ripening index, total viable count, proteolytic
and lipolytic bacterial counts. Cheese samples containing slurry in cheese curd also
aChieved the highest scores for organoleptic properties which were correlated with the
amount of slurry added. However, addition of cheese sturry 10 cheese milk prior to
renneting resulted in no enhancement of the cheese lipening. It [5 recommended to
employ 3% cheese slurry to be added to cheese curd in order to accelerate the
ripening of Ras cheese made from buffaloes' m~k.