Even though cheese has been around for thousands of years, researchers continue to move forward with intriguing new approaches, says the American Chemical Society as it marks National Dairy Month in June.
For example, one study published in the open access journal ACS Omega.describes the development of a probiotic cottage cheese. Scientists encapsulated probiotic microbes in edible microcapsules and added them to cottage cheese, creating a more healthful product.
The cottage cheese with microbes encapsulated in a 1% sodium alginate and 1% carrageenan gum coating produced a pleasant-tasting semisoft dairy product, which panelists preferred to versions containing higher proportions of sodium alginate. The researchers report additional nutritional analyses and sensory test results for the new functional cheese.
Meanwhile to produce a natural cheese-like aroma in plant-based products, researchers evaluated two fungi-fermented soy or sunflower proteins with coconut oil.
The odor compounds produced by both fungi were similar to multiple animal milk-derived cheese samples. Therefore, fungal fermentation could be a sustainable way to produce natural cheese-like aromas for plant-based cheese alternatives, the researchers say in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.
No comments yet