High pressure treatment decelerates the lipolysis in a caprine cheese

Garrotxa cheese, a cheese made of goat's milk, typical of the Catalonian region, has been high pressure-treated (400 MPa, 5 min, 14°C) to accelerate the ripening. The volatile fraction of Garrotxa cheese was studied on treated and untreated samples at two ripening stages by SDE extraction with dichloromethane, and identified with GC-MS. Pressure treatment at 400 MPa for 5 min decelerated the lipolysis, having treated cheese lower amount of free fatty acids, and, in general, less volatile compounds showing a tendency to decrease differences during ripening. No new volatile compounds could be identified after pressure treatment. Humidity and content of non-casein nitrogen and non-protein were higher on pressurised cheese, but bacterial counts were significantly reduced after pressure treatment. High pressure-treated Garrotxa cheese was not substantially equivalent to the regular-ripened cheese, however the treatment presented in this paper could lead to new varieties of cheese. © 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.