Effect of Cow to Goat Milk Ratio on Ripening Quality and Antioxidant Characteristics of Malatya Cheese

Malatya cheeses with different cow to goat milk ratios (1:0, 3:1, 1:1, 1:3 and 0:1) were prepared to investigate the effect of blend ratio between cow and goat milk on the yield, physicochemical properties, texture, color, melting temperature, sensory quality, protein hydrolysis and antioxidant properties of traditional Malatya cheese during the ripening process. The results showed that increasing the proportion of cow milk resulted in lower protein content, hardness, chewiness, brightness and whiteness values, and higher moisture content of Malatya cheese. As the ripening time increased, the degree of proteolysis gradually increased, and the antioxidant activity of cheese gradually increased until the 60th day, and then decreased. There was no significant difference in cheese yield between the 50% cow milk addition and the pure goat milk groups (P > 0.05), while the former had the highest sensory evaluation score. Malatya cheese prepared from 50% cow milk and 50% goat milk showed no significant difference in the degree of proteolysis compared with pure goat milk cheese, and in 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging capacity, superoxide anion radical scavenging capacity, reducing power, or total antioxidant capacity compared with traditional Malatya cheese (P > 0.05). From these results, it was found that the optimal addition level of cow milk in Malatya cheese was 50%, which imparted good quality and antioxidant properties to Malatya cheese.