Comparison of characteristics and fatty acid profiles of traditional Turkish yayik butters produced from goatsʹ, ewesʹ or cowsʹ milk

The physicochemical, microbiological and organoleptic characteristics and fatty acid compositions of Turkish yayik butter made from yoghurt were studied. Yayik butters were produced experimentally from goatsʹ, ewesʹ or cowsʹ milk. Statistically, the differences between the physicochemical characteristics of yayik butters were generally significant. Streptococcus thermophilus counts (log cfu/g) of the butters produced from goatsʹ, ewesʹ and cowsʹ milk were determined as 5.93 ± 0.04, 5.42 ± 0.17 and 6.30 ± 0.14, respectively. In addition, the Lactobacillus delbrueckii ssp. bulgaricus counts of the butters were 5.73 ± 0.10, 5.20 ± 0.14 and 5.80 ± 0.14, respectively. In this research, fatty acid compositions of yayik butters were determined by the gas–liquid chromatography method. The contents of saturated fatty acids (%), monounsaturated (%) and polyunsaturated fatty acids (%) were found to be 73.88 ± 0.62, 21.20 ± 0.94 and 1.44 ± 0.01, and in goatsʹ yayik butter, 69.10 ± 0.36, 20.22 ± 0.76 and 2.96 ± 0.06 in ewesʹ yayik butter, 67.06 ± 0.30, 24.01 ± 0.84 and 1.34 ± 0.01 in cowsʹ yayik butter, respectively. The yayik butter made from goatsʹ milk had the most acceptable organoleptic characteristics.