Hassan Gholizadeh - Department of Food Science and Technology, Ayatollah Amoli Branch, Islamic Azad University, Amol, Mazandaran, ۶۷۸, Iran.

The Ricotta cheese is an Italian cheese made from whey, milk, and a mixture. The most important properties of Ricotta cheese are soft texture and high moisture. In this study, the mixture of skim milk and whey has been used to produce Ricotta cheese and evaluate its physicochemical and rheological properties. The samples were made in four different ratios of whey to skim milk (۱۰۰: ۰, ۶۶.۶: ۳۳.۴, ۳۳.۴: ۶۶.۶, ۰: ۱۰۰). Ricotta cheeses were analyzed for pH, total solids, texture, color, storage modulus (Gʹ), and loss modulus (Gʺ). The results showed that hardness, storage modulus, and loss modulus increased significantly by increasing the ratio of skim milk to whey(P≤ ۰.۰۵). By removing the whey from the formulation, the cohesiveness significantly increases(P≤ ۰.۰۵). Springiness reduced significantly when skim milk was used. The chewiness was the same in the ratio of whey to milk at ۰:۱۰۰ and ۳۳.۴:۶۶.۶, and it was very (P≤ ۰.۰۵) lower than the two other samples. Hardness and energy consumption developed especially (P≤ ۰.۰۵) to ۳۳.۴: ۶۶.۶, whey to skim milk. By eliminating whey in treatments, L*, b*, and a*-value were decreased significantly. Generally, a mixture of skim milk and whey will provide desirable characteristics in Ricotta cheese.

Whey, Rheology, Ricotta Cheese, Skim milk, Physicochemical