Investigation of the processes of the cyclic barovacuum drying of soft cheese

Optimal technological regimes of barovacuum drying of soft cheeses were selected. As objects of research following soft cheeses were chosen: «Adygeiskii», «Roquefort», the «Russian Camembert». Baro-vacuum drying was performed at alterating of the cycles of pressure rise and vacuuming. For this purpose, earlier selected efficient regimes were applied. Duration of the exposure under residual pressure varied in the following values: 15, 30, 45, 60 min. Kinetics of the process of cyclic barovacuum drying of cheese was studied. The time for drying in the case of exposure under vacuum for 15 minutes is 300 minutes. Increasing exposure time to 30 min resulted in reduction of the drying time for another 10 min. Further increase in the duration of exposure leads to increased dehydration time due to the entry into force of certain factors. It has been established that decrease of vacuum treatment resulted in reduction of specific energy consumption. Lowering of this indicator is on average of 7,15 and 23% if drying time reduces from 60 to 45,30 and 15 minutes respectively. Organoleptic evaluation of dry cheese was carried out by various parameters. It was found that the highest quality characteristic (70-71 points out of 75) received the cheeses, dried at the largest period of vacuuming. On the base of the research work it was found that the most effective barovacuum drying of soft cheeses in terms of duration, energy consumption and quality of the finished product is achieved when the time of vacuum treatment is 30 minutes.

barovacuum drying, soft cheeses, residual pressure