Use of Ultrafiltered Sweet Buttermilk in the Manufacture of Reduced Fat Cheddar Cheese

Sweet buttermilk was ultrafiltered at 54°C to approximately 28% TS, 7.2% fat, and 13.6% protein and then added to batch pasteurized (63°C for 30 min) skim milk at 3 or 5% (wt/wt). The 3 and 5% supplemented milks contained 10.9 and 11% TS, 1.6 and 1.7% fat, 3.7 and 3.9% protein, and 0.7 and 0.7% ash, respectively. The control milk was made from skim milk standardized with cream and then batch pasteurized (10.4% TS, 1.4% fat, 3.4% protein, and 0.7% ash). Cheddar cheese was made from five replicate batches of these milks using cooking temperatures of 34°C for the control milk and 38°C for the 3 and 5% supplemented milks; pH values at milling were approximately 5.7, 5.4, and 5.4, respectively. Compositions of cheeses from the three treatments were similar (45% moisture, 16.5% fat, 31.8% protein, and 3.6% ash). Whey from the supplemented milks contained more TS, fat, and protein than whey from the control milk, but protein losses to whey were lower in the 5% supplemented milk than in milk in the other two treatments. Cheese yield per unit weight of milk, corrected for salt and moisture, was approximately 11.3 and 18.8% higher for cheese from the 3 and 5% supplemented milks, respectively, than for cheese from the control milk. At 4 wk, cheeses made with the buttermilk concentrates were softer than the cheese made from the control milk and also had improved body and texture. These differences were smaller at 24 wk.