Brining time effect on physicochemical and microbiological parameters in Idiazabal cheese

Physiochemical and microbiological parameters were compared for three brini ng times (12, 24 and 36 h) for fresh, young, semihard and hard Idiazabal ch eese. Longer brining time produced higher salt, dry matter and salt-moistur e ratio and lower water activity values for all types of cheese according t o ripening time, while non-significant changes were observed for pH. In fre sh cheese (1-15 days ripening), non-significant differences for microbiolog ical counts in relation to brining time acre observed, except for moulds. I n young and hard cheeses, Lactobacillus and Leuconostoc showed lower counts with longer brining times. In contrast, Micrococcaceae, yeast and moulds w ere stimulated by higher salt content in matured cheeses. In addition, this work has proved that there are lower water activity values and lower micro biological counts in longer-matured Idiazabal cheeses. For the different br ining and ripening times, positive correlations were observed among lost of the microbial groups studied, but a different behavior was established for Enterococcus, Clostridium tyrobutyricum yeast and moulds. (C) 1999 Elsevie r Science B.V. All rights reserved.