నైరూప్య

Effect of Black Pepper (Piper Nigrum L.) on the Keeping Quality of Spiced Cottage Cheese

Himabindu D and Arunkumar H

Cottage cheese is a soft, unripened, pleasant mild acidic, meatlike texture with discrete curd particles and diacetyl flavour. Nutrionally, Cottage cheese is designated as slim cheese with a low calorific value of 96 K cal/100 g, low lactose consequently with the reduced cholesterol and saturated fatty acids. Cottage cheese has limited shelf life of 8-10 days, due to the high moisture content (~75%) and high pH (~5.0). This effects wide spread of marketing and distribution. Hence, this study was investigated to improve the shelf life and sensory properties of cottage cheese by using black pepper (Piper nigrum L.), a natural antioxidant substance and contain organic compounds having antagonistic activity against microorganisms. The effect of three different levels of Black pepper powder i.e., 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5% on the physico- chemical, microbiological and sensory properties were studied at 3 days interval under refrigeration (4-5ºC) temperature. Best results were obtained by using 1 percent black pepper powder by inhibiting psychrotrophs, yeast and molds as well as retard the acidity development and lowering the proteolysis in the cottage cheese. Finally, that addition of black pepper powder at the level of 1.0% improved the properties as well as the aesthetic quality of the spiced cottage cheese and extended the shelf life from 8 to 14 days without any quality detoriation of the cottage cheese.