Pategrás argentino cheese: prediction of ripening time using physicochemical parameters

RAMONDA, M. B.; PEROTTI, M.C.; MEINARDI, C.; BERNAL, S.; ZALAZAR, C.

The Australian Journal of Dairy Technology

AJDT Production Editorial

Lugar: Merlbourne, Australia; Año: 2006 vol. 61 p. 225 - 225

Among the semi-hard Argentinean cheeses, the leader in the local market is pategrás argentino cheese. The Código Alimentario Argentino (CAA) describes it as a cow’s milk cheese with thermophilic starter, enzymatically coagulated and partially cooked, with or without widespread eyes, and with a ripening time of 60 days. However, cheeses with distinctly different ripening times are available in the marketplace. Models to predict the ripening time of some cheese types have been developed, e.g. manchego cheese. At the present time, however, there are no analytical procedures to establish the ripening time of Argentinean cheeses. This work presents a preliminary study to develop statistical models to predict the ripening time using the physicochemical characteristics of pategrás argentino cheese.