Elaboration of "cotija" type cheese made of whole milk and chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) mixture

The objective corrected] of this work was to elaborate "cotija" type cheese prepared with whole milk and chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.), inoculated with S. Thermophilus and to compare its physicochemical, microbiological and sensorial characteristics with a commercial cheese. Two mixture were selected 70:30 and 80:20 (whole milk:chickpea paste). Both mixture were ground, pasteurized and inoculated with. S. Thermophilus, to develop taste and aroma. Two rennet concentrations (1:10,000 and 2:10,000), lactic acid and 50% CaCl2 solution were used in both products. Results showed that cheese made with 70:30 mixture and 1:10,000 rennet concentration gave a weak curde and 12% of total solids were lost; in the same way as 70:30 mixture and 2:10,000 rennet concentration. Nevertheless, cheese made with 80:20 mixture and 10,000 or 2:10,000 rennet concentration showed hard consistency of its curd. Addition of 10% sodium chloride solution to he 80:20 mixture cheese, made better whey drain, and a "cotija" type cheese with similar sensory characteristics as a whole milk cheese, was obtained. Chemical and physical analysis of the extended "cotija" type cheese showed 14.3 +/- 0.42 and 15.5 +/- 0.21 g/100 g of protein and lipid content respectively. Microbiologically, the extended "cotija" type cheese is pathogenic microorganisms free for human consumption. Sensory evaluation of the chickpea "extended" cheese showed a 80% acceptance while the acceptance of the whole milk commercial cheese was 90%.