Manufacture and characterization of white cheese from camel milk: Mineralisation and buffering capacity- A comparaison with cow milk.

Camel milk is consumed as raw milk or after pasteurization. An other possible valorisation of camel milk is to transform it in cheese. In this work, white cheese from camel milk was manufactured and physico-chemically characterized. A same protocol was used to make the same cheese with cow milk previously standardized to have the same concentrations in fat (~20 g/kg) and total nitrogen (~25 g/kg) contents than those of camel milk. Milks and cheeses were characterized with special attentions paid on their rates of acidification (for milks) and for their mineralization and buffering capacity during chemical alkalinisation (for cheeses). Recoveries of protein and fat were also calculated for cheeses manufactured with both milks. The rates of acidification were very different for both milks because the final pHs were reached at 5 and 18h for cow and camel milks, respectively. The recovery of protein in the cheese was better for camel milk (~84%).than those determined for cow milk (~73%) although that the recovery of fat was better for cow milk than camel milk (~68 and ~57%’ respectively). On the other hand, cheeses manufactured with camel milk were more mineralized in calcium than those made with cow milk. Concerning the buffering capacity, maximal buffering capacities were determined at pH close to 6.0 for both cheeses. It was noted a second maximal peaks at pH 4.0 for cow milk but not for camel milk. All these results will be discussed in relation with our knowledge on cow milk and also by taking into account the special composition and organisation of camel milk.