Influence of vegetable and animal rennet on proteolysis during ripening in ewes’ milk cheese

The renewed interest in using enzymes from thistles of the genus Cynara in the making of traditional ewes’ milk cheese prompted us to investigate the effect of vegetable and animal rennet on proteolysis during ripening of Los Pedroches cheese. Casein hydrolysis was found to be much more extensive and faster in cheese made by using vegetable rennet (the amount of soluble nitrogen at 60, 80 and 100 days of ripening was more than 28% greater than that in cheese produced using animal rennet). The levels of insoluble Tyr and Trp were higher in cheese produced with vegetable rennet. PAGE, using gels containing 7 M urea, revealed decreased contents in residual αs-CN and β-CN, as well as markedly increased levels of the more mobile components in cheese produced from vegetable rennet at the end of ripening. On the other hand, the degree of proteolysis in terms of NPN or its main components (peptides, amino acids and ammonia) was similar in cheese produced using animal or vegetable rennet.