Physical and physico-chemical parameters of Greek cheeses

Some physical and physico-chemical parameters of 15 different Greek cheeses were assessed. Cheeses differed as to the origin (cow, sheep and goat), they had different texture (soft, semi-hard and hard) and they were from different regions in Greece. The aw values in observed samples ranged from 0.799 (in semi-hard cheese Kefalotiri) to 0.889 (in soft cheese Katiki Domokou); while the average value of water activity in the samples was 0.851. Water content of the samples was 24.0 to 73.6 %. Dry matter in cheese thus constituted from 26.4 to 76 %. Fat content in dry matter was from 34.27 to 62.11 %. NaCl concentration in cheeses ranged from 0.82 over 5.15 %. Colour data for the monitored cheeses were analyzed colorimetrically and expressed by CIElab colour range as parameters L*, a*, b*.