The Impact of Potassium Chloride Salt on the Properties of Caerphilly Cheese as Sodium Chloride Salt Substitute

The association of dietary NaCl with arterial hypertension has led to a reduction in the levels of this salt in food and dairy products. For salting, Kcl has been used as a partial substitute for NaCl, without affecting product acceptability. In this study a sensually adequate saline solution was simultaneously diffused during salting of Caerphilly cheese in brine. Caerphilly cheese was made from mixtures of cow and buffalo milks (1:1) with added liquid rennet and starter (Lactococcus lactis Sub.sp& Lactococcus lactic Sub.sp cremoris. biovar diacetyl lactis and leuconostoc pseudomesenteroides). Dry salt was added at a level of 1% (w: w) of the wet curd. Brine constituting of 25% of only NaCl without salt substitutes as a control, and mixes of NaCl: Kcl (90:10, 80:20and 70; 30, respectively, were examined. Cheese brined by using NaCl: Kcl 70:30 characterized with higher scoring points of 84.8 and 89.2 %, either when fresh or during storage, compared with the control cheese, being treated with 100% NaCl, which gained the lowest scoring points of 70.5-74.4 %. Higher yield of 16.20 % was found in control cheese, compared with either cheese brined with NaCl: Kcl 70:30, which was of the lowest yield of 15.85%. Meanwhile, control treatment contained lower total bacterial counts, lactic acid bacteria and moulds and yeasts, compared with other treatments. Using only NaCl (without added substitutes) in the control treatment had a higher total solid, compared with other treatment. Brining by substituting 10, 20 and 30 % NaCl by Kcl was not markedly different from the traditional cheese salted with sodium chloride.