How milk type, coagulant, salting procedure and ripening time affect the profile of free amino acids in Picante da Beira Baixa cheese

The concentration of total free amino acids (FAA) in Picante cheese increas ed with ripening time irrespective of the particular protocol used for manu facture (ie ratio of caprine to ovine milks, animal or plant rennet and num ber of salting steps). The experimental cheeses manufactured with 20% (v/v) caprine milk, coagulated with animal rennet and salted only once exhibited the highest content of total FAA by 120 days of ripening. All four manufac ture parameters were statistically significant on the 0.5% level of signifi cance in terms of total concentration of FAA. The dominating free amino aci ds present in the various experimental cheeses throughout the ripening peri od were valine, leucine and phenylalanine, each one representing more than 10% (w/w) of the total concentration of FAA. All four manufacture parameter s were, in general, statistically significant with respect to the content o f every single FAA, with particular emphasis on salting and ripening time. (C) 1999 Society of Chemical Industry.