Manufacture of a fermented dairy product using whey from sheep's milk cheese: An alternative to using the main by-product of sheep's milk cheese production in small farms

Adequate use of whey from sheep's milk cheese in smallholdings is a challenge. The possibility of producing a fermented dairy product manufactured by mixing sheep milk and whey at different concentrations was evaluated. Results showed that fermentation time, gel strength, acid content and difference in colour were proportional to the milk content. Post acidification was observed for almost all the samples for 35 days and resulted in a similar pH drop for the samples, but with different amounts of acid. The gels with 100% and 75%-milk samples remained stable during storage, while a slight (∼11%) or excessive (47%) whey separation was observed for gels with 30% and 15%-milk samples, respectively. In addition, good sensory acceptance was obtained for samples produced with ≥30% milk. Therefore, use of whey from sheep's milk cheese (≤70%) for fermented dairy product manufacture is an interesting use for this sheep cheese waste.