Abstract
Divle Cave cheese is a raw ewe’s milk cheese ripened with the aid of a rich microbiota and a wide range of protease and lipase enzymes secreted by individual strains belong to this microbial community. The study presented in this thesis mainly aims to define the diversity and evolution of
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the complex microbiota of this raw milk cheese during traditional ripening in a cave, to describe the protease and lipase activities of the determined strains and to select the dominant contributors to ripening and the volatile, proteolysis and lipolysis profiles of cheese during the traditional production and ripening process. The data obtained will ultimately enable accurate prediction of the dominant strains and support better control of the cheese production process, by addition of these strains. In this way, a standardized and controlled cheese production and ripening can be achieved while preserving the traditional character of the cheese. The obtained results may also allow the development of new starter/adjunct cultures for industrial cheeses. Moreover, this thesis presents data that contribute to a better characterization of Divle Cave cheese which will aid in establishing the geographical origin of this artisanal cheese in the future. The obtained data can also be useful for comparative purposes both on mold- ripened and raw ewe’s milk cheeses. With these results, further insight has been generated into the dynamics of the cheese ageing process, and reflects the biochemical consequences with regard to peptide, fatty acid and volatile profiles of cheese, which are the key aspects of the sensory characteristics in any cheese variety. Furthermore, this thesis compares the enzymatic abilities of Aspergillus spp. to the strains isolated from this cheese variety which are mainly consist of Penicillium spp. Understanding the composition of the microbiota and their role in cheese ripening is highly important. This study has a potential to guide not only new researchers but also starter culture and cheese producers. Furthermore, in case one of these strains will be used as an adjunct in a different type of cheese, the data of this thesis will strongly contribute to prediction of the additional enzymatic capacity of the microbiota as a whole. From an economical point of view, utilization of pure microbial strain as an adjunct in cheese production could be more feasible alternative than usage of a purified enzyme, due to the high cost of enzyme isolation and purification.
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