INGREDIENTI NATURALI PER IL SETTORE CASEARIO: CAGLI VEGETALI ESTRATTI DA CYNARA CARDUNCULUS L

Total caseinolytic activity and coagulating strenght of flowers (‘flosculi’) of Cynara cardunculus scolymus (artichoke), C. cardunculus altilis (cultivated cardoon) and cardunculus sylvestris (wild cardoon) coming from three Sicilian areas were evaluated with the aim of selecting the genotypes with best performance in cheese-making. Among the enzymes employed as coagulant agents in cheese-making, flowers of Cynara cardunculus represents indeed an interesting alternative to the calf or microbial rennet. Within the flowers, in vacuoles of stigmatic papilla and in epidermal cells of stylum, protease activities are located and represent the main soluble proteins. Results confirmed the good attitude of artichoke extracts to cheese-making, above all on goat milk, using artichoke extracts of cv. “Camus de Bretagne” and “Progenie di Cardo Greco”, among the cultivated cardoon genotypes. Furthermore, good results were obtained with flowers of artichoke cv. “Violetto di Sicilia”, of which discarded heads could be validly used as biomass destined to cheese-making industry.