Effect of acoustic brining on the transport of sodium chloride and water in Mahon cheese

The effect of acoustic brining on mass transfer during brining and ripening of Mahon cheese was investigated. Salt-in-moisture profiles of acousticall y and conventionally brined cheeses subjected to different times of pressin g (60, 110, 130, 145 min) prior to brining were compared. Acoustically brin ed cheeses exhibited greater concentrations of salt-in-moisture than those brined conventionally. The increase in sodium chloride content due to the a pplication of ultrasound was more important as the pressing time increased. The magnitude of this improvement ranged from 5% for cheeses pressed for 6 0 min to 16% for cheeses pressed for 145 min. Water transport during ripeni ng was affected by the type of brining: acoustically brined cheeses present ed a lower effective water diffusivity (3.57 x 10(-11) m(2)/s) than those b rined conventionally (4.04 x 10(-11) m(2)/s). However, profile evolution of salt-in-moisture during ripening showed that an even distribution was reac hed at the same stage for both types of brining treatment.