Using of Sophora Japonica gum to improve the texture characteristics and stability of Cream cheese

Sophora Japonica tree is native to China and Korea.This tree belongs to the legume family and has creamy white and pendulous bell-shaped flowers, sometimes fragrant, therefore, it can be used as ornamental plants.The gum secreted by the tree, is applicable in the food, pharmaceuticals, and textile industries.This gum provides suitable consistency and stability properties and it is taken into consideration increasingly than ever, according to the necessity of utilizing new gums with good performance characteristics. In this study, first, the raw gum secreted by tree, separated and added to distilled water and the impurities were separated by centrifugation. After adding ethanol, other impurities, such as colorant, tannins and other particles were separated and finally, dehydration was done by freeze-drying technology. Then, the effect of different amounts (0 ،0.1، 0.2 and 0.3%) of gum was investigated on the chemical (pH, acidity, fat) and sensory (color, odor and flavor) and texture (syneresis, hardness and spreadability) properties of Cream cheese. Adding gum had no significant effects on the chemical properties. Results showed that, the control sample without gum compared to samples with gum had more syneresis. Meanwhile, the amount of gum which is used had a significant effect on the syneresis attribute of cream cheese. Also adding gum had an effective role in the reducing of syneresis and phase separation during storing. There aren’t any significant differences among the taste and odor scores of samples but the panelists were preferred the color of the control sample. In addition, the results of the mechanical texture analysis showed that hardness of cheeses was correlated directly with the amount of gum

Keywords:

Cream cheese , Gum , Sophora Japonica , Stability , Texture