Evaluation Of Hyblean Ricotta Cheese Through Seasons, A Comparison Of The Chemical And Sensory Characteristics

Dairy production is one of the main businesses in the Hyblean area, in southern Sicily, characterized by traditional small farms producing cheese, with a semi-extensive system, involving dairy cattle grazing on native pasture. Among major dairy products is ricotta cheese, obtained from heat-acid aggregation of whey proteins, which can be considered a sustainable vehicle for dairy by- product reuse (whey). In recent years, several research focused on dairy products manufactured from animals grazed on pasture, mostly due to increased consumer interest regarding food authenticity, local production, animal welfare, and environmental sustainability. To this purpose, the aim of the present work was to characterize the ricotta cheese produced through 2 different seasons, comparing the chemical and sensory characteristics. The trial was divided into 2 periods, when animals were fed on pasture (PS) and when fed indoors (IS). For each season ricotta samples from 6 farms were collected to assess chemical and sensory profiles. All data were statistically analyzed using mixed model to test the effect of season. The PS ricotta was fatter, showing significantly higher total solid (p<0.05) and protein content (p<0.05) than IS. The ricotta cheese produced in PS resulted in a significantly higher yellow-color appearance (<0.0001), bitter taste (<0.0001), pastiness (<0.01), vegetable odor and overall aroma (<0.0001) compared to IS. Thus, pasture feeding by the cows seemed to affect the chemical and sensory characteristics of ricotta cheese. Further study needs to characterize the specific chemical compounds responsible for the sensory profile, the fatty acid profile, as well as the type of botanical species that particularly affect this production.