Use of lovage (Levisticum officinale) in production of semi-hard cheese

One of the promising areas in food industry is the enrichment of products with various components, including those of plant origin. Lovage has a number of useful properties: antibacterial, antifungal, insecticidal, cytotoxic, anti-inflammatory. In all parts of the plant there is essential oil, the leaves contain vitamin C. The recipe of «Caciotta» semi-hard cheese with the addition of vegetable raw materials has been developed. Four samples of cheese were produced and analyzed. During the tasting evaluation it was revealed that the experimental sample No. 2 (with the addition of 10 g of Lovage) had a more pleasant taste and aroma, compared to others; consistency is homogeneous, elastic. The conducted physical and chemical analysis of the samples did not reveal any deviations from the requirements of GOST. In the experimental sample No.2 indicators of mass fraction of moisture (%) and mass fraction of table salt (%) amounted to 56.5 and 2.4, respectively. The index of active acidity was 5.3. It was found that the introduction of the plant component in a dosage of 10 g per 750 g of cheese grain does not affect the organoleptic characteristics of the finished product. According to the results of the score evaluation, sample No. 2 scored the maximum number of points - 4.7.