Comparative analysis of camel and bovine milk cheeses based on physicochemical properties, fatty acid composition, volatile profile and chemometric evaluations

This study compared the physicochemical, color, textural, free fatty acid, volatile compound, sensory and chemometric characteristics of white brined cheeses produced from camel and bovine milk during 90 days of ripening. Camel milk cheese exhibited significantly higher protein (17.19 vs. 13.07%), salt (5.33 vs. 4.08%) and Whiteness Index (54.50 vs. 18.51) values than bovine cheese at the beginning of ripening (p<0.05). Dry matter was not significantly affected by milk type or ripening (p>0.05), whereas pH and titratable acidity changed significantly during ripening (p<0.05). Texture profile analysis revealed that camel milk cheese had a softer structure, characterized by lower hardness (689.73 vs. 800.70 g on day 1; 820.94 vs. 1850.31 g on day 90) and lower springiness (0.88 vs. 0.93 on day 1; 0.67 vs. 0.88 on day 90) than bovine cheese (p<0.05). Differences in free fatty acid evolution and volatile compound profiles indicated that lipolysis and aroma development followed different biochemical pathways in the two cheese types during ripening, with organic acids and ester compounds detected only in bovine cheese. Despite these instrumental differences, sensory evaluation revealed comparable appearance, odor and flavor scores between camel and bovine cheeses (p>0.05). Hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA), principal component analysis (PCA) and heatmap analysis successfully differentiated the cheeses according to milk type and ripening stage. Generally, white brined cheese produced from camel milk exhibited distinctive physicochemical, textural and aromatic characteristics while maintaining satisfactory sensory quality. These findings provide valuable insights into the ripening behavior of camel milk cheese and demonstrate the usefulness of chemometric approaches for differentiating cheeses produced from different milk sources.