EFFECT OF SPECIFIC STARTERS ON MICROBIOLOGICAL, BIOCHEMICAL AND SENSORY CHARACTERISTICS OF VENACO, A CORSICAN SOFT CHEESE

Local wild-type strains were tested as starters in the production of a corsican farm cheese, called Venaco. Four strains of Lactococcus lact is subsp. lactis and three strains of Enterococcus faecalis, belonging to the INRA-LRDE collection, were employed. Cheesemaking trials were carried out on six farms, on raw ewe's or goat's milk. Each experiment included a control (usual farm cheese) made either with a commercial or with a CNRZ (Centre national de recherches zootechniques) starter. During ripening, trials and controls showed similar counts of total mi croflora, coliforms and mesophilic lactic microflora, while higher ent erococci counts were found in cheeses made with lactococci-enterococci starters. Local starters were less acidifying than commercial ones us ed as controls, but acidification was adequate to avoid early blowing. Within the same farm, cheeses made with starters including enterococc i had the highest SN/TN (soluble nitrogen/total nitrogen) contents. Tr iangle tests comparing each trial with the corresponding control were carried out by an expert panel. The effect of local starters on sensor y characteristics was greater on goat's cheeses than on ewe's ones.