Study on the Possibility of Using Camel Milk (Camelus dromedarius) and Lemon Juice as a Natural Acid Coagulant in Soft Cheese Production

• Nawras Saad Abd1

  Author

This study evaluated graded doses of lemon juice as a natural acid coagulant for soft cheese made from camel milk (Camelus dromedarius), with commercial rennet and crude ginger extract included as reference coagulants. Thirty-three litres of fresh milk were allocated to 11 treatments with three replicates of 1 L each in a completely randomised design: eight lemon-juice doses (T1–T8: 150–500 mL/L milk), milk without coagulant (C1), commercial rennet (C2) and crude ginger extract (C3). Because the three coagulant types require different temperatures, pH values and holding times, the reference treatments were manufactured under their own protocols and are reported descriptively rather than as a like-for-like comparison with the lemon-juice series. Data were analysed by one-way ANOVA with least significant difference (LSD) at P < 0.05, and Pearson correlation with dose was calculated for T1–T8. Within the lemon-juice series, cheese yield increased from 9.36% (T1) to 24.06% (T8), titratable acidity rose from 0.43 to 0.75% and pH fell from 5.65 to 4.65, all strongly correlated with dose (r = 0.95, 0.98 and −0.99). Protein increased from 8.30 to 12.84% and ash decreased from 2.71 to 2.53% (r = 0.93 and −0.97), fat peaked at 15.79% in T6 (400 mL/L), and moisture increased significantly only at the two highest doses (60.31% in T8). Sensory evaluation by 40 assessors on a nine-point hedonic scale showed significant differences among T1–T8 for all seven attributes; T8 scored highest, but its mean overall acceptability (3.18 ± 0.74) remained below the neutral point of 5. Lemon juice within 150–500 mL/L is therefore a technically workable acid coagulant for camel-milk soft cheese in terms of yield and composition; however, because all sensory scores remained below the neutral point, the process in its current form cannot be recommended for commercial production, and reduction of the juice volume added, flavour development and storage stability require further work.

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