Oštiepok is a traditional half-fat semi-hard cheese made in Slovakia. The basic raw material used to produce oštiepok cheese is ewe’s milk, a mixture of ewe’s and cow’s milk or cow’s milk. Oštiepok cheese is produced either directly at a small-scale mountainside sheep farm, using the traditional on-farm method of production, or at dairies, using the industrial method. Oštiepok cheese was produced as far back as the beginning of the 18th century. An industrial production of Oštiepok cheese using cow’s milk were laid by the Galbavý family in Detva (Slovakia) in 1921. The cheese is originally made by cutting off fresh sweet cheese, which is pressed into a wooden, hand-cut and decorated round shape where it is left to stand. Subsequently, it is removed and immersed in warm salty water, left to stand there until the salt penetrates completely in. Then it is necessary that it pass slightly. In its salty water, the ostrich produces its traditional durability, its surface is slightly peeled, mostly yellowish. This cheese may or may not be steamed and may be smoked or unsmoked. Slovenský oštiepok is a protected trade name under the EU’s protected geographical indication. A similar cheese is made in the Polish Tatra Mountains under the name Oscypek. The cheeses differ in ingredients’ ratios, cheesemaking process and the characteristics of the final products. In this study we have characterized textural and sensory properties of the Oštiepok cheese produced in Slovakia made from ewe’s milk, a mixture of ewe’s and cow’s milk and cow’s milk.
Oštiepok cheese (Slovenský oštiepok – Slovak oštiepok) is characterised by its special shape, that of a large egg, pine cone or ellipsoid with decoration. The colour is golden-yellow to golden-brown on the outside after smoking, white to buttery-yellow on the inside. Consistency is solid, firm, slightly fragile, with minor cracks and cavities appearing when cut. Aroma and flavor is savoury, pleasant distinctive cheese flavour, mildly piquant to sour, moderately salty, with a typical smoky aroma resulting from the smoking process; must not be overly acidic, yeasty, tallowy, soapy, rancid, putrid, sharp, spicy or bitter or have other strange flavours. Composition depends on the raw material used and the method of production, a minimum of 48 % dry matter by weight, a minimum of 38.0 % fat in dry matter by weight.
(
Slovenský oštiepok is presented in the Figure
Slovenský oštiepok (Slovak oštiepok cheese).
Slovenský oštiepok is produced using ewe's milk obtained from grazing ewes, particularly the
The cooled cheeses are placed in hygienic food packaging. They are packaged whole to ensure that their characteristic shape and decorations are retained (which would not be the case if they were cut and then packed) and that the quality is preserved, the product is not adulterated and consumers are not deceived. All stages of production take place within the delimited geographical area (
Smoking the Slovenský oštiepok (Slovak oštiepok cheese) by the traditional way (
The cheese should be produced only from milk meeting the criteria of the Slovak technical standard
Salaš Zbojská. Note: (Salaš is Slovak name for small farm in mountain region).
In this study, we have described in detail the characteristic textural and sensoric properties of Slovenský oštiepok cheese made from ewe's milk, a mixture of ewe's and cow's milk and cow's milk. The hypothesis we have tested was that textural and sensoric characteristics of the Slovenský oštiepok cheese may vary depending on the type of milk used for the production. Figure
Technological steps of the Slovenský oštiepok ( Slovak O štiepok cheese) production..
There is a statistically significant difference between Oštiepok cheeses produced in different regions of Slovakia.
We have pilled of the crust of the cheese and the cheese was cut into 30 equal parts of the size 1 x 1cm. Fifteen parts represented the middle of cheese and 15 parts was from edge parts of cheese (Figure
A curve showing the textural properties of cheese in the program Exponent (Stable Micro Systems).
Otiepok cheese sample cutting.
We used: texturometer TA.XT Plus (Stable Micro Systems), computer with a program Exponent (Stable Micro Systems), spherical probe (P/1S), fridge, cheese samples, knife.
The analysis of the textural properties of cheese samples was tested using texturometer TA.XT Plus (Stable Micro Systems) at 10 °C. The instrument was setu up according to the manufacturer's recommendations. We focused on following indicators ( firmness of the cheese (g), consistency of the cheese (g.s-1).
The Figure
We have stripped each Oštiepok cheese and cut into 30 equal parts of the size 1 x 1cm. The sensory analysis was tested using skilled evaluators. The cheese was tempered to 10°C and the temperature in laboratory was 20 °C.
The organoleptic properties of the individual samples were evaluated using a modified profile test. Values for descriptors were: 10 – extremely strong, 9 – very strong, 8 – strong, 7 – moderately strong, 6 – above average, 5 – medium, 4 – weak, 3 – very weak, 2 – treshold, 0 – none. Odor: evaulators focused on two descriptors for odor: cheesy and smoke, Taste: evaulators focused on four descriptors for taste: salty, after smoke, total flavour and other/foreign, Texture: evaulators focused on two descriptors for texture: overall appearance, colour, consistency and scroop.
The cheese composition was analysed with standard laboratory methods.
Cheese and processed cheese -- Determination of the total solids content (Reference method).
Cheese and processed cheese products -- Determination of chloride content -- Potentiometric titration method.
The results were statistically evaluated using XLSTAT, v. 2018.1 (Addinsoft, USA) statistical program. Firstly, we used the Shapiro-Wilk's test for verifying the normality of data. The significance level (ɑ) was determined at level 0.05 for this test. Consequently, the Kruskal-Wallis one-way ANOVA and Dunn's test were used to test whether there is significant difference between Oštiepok chceeses in composition and texture parameters. We consider the results significantly different at
PCA Analysis of Oštiepok cheeses (composition and textural parameters).
The results were evaluated using statistical software (XLSTAT, v. 2018.1, Addinsoft, USA). We used a method for a comprehensive assessment of similarity and organoleptic acceptability: Principal component analysis (PCA). Figure
Texturometer TA.XT Plus setup
Parameter | Setup |
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Mode | Measure Force in Compression |
Option | Return to Start |
Pre-Test Speed: | 1.5 mm.s-1 |
Test Speed: | 2.0 mm.s-1 |
Post-Test Speed: | 10.0 mm.s-1 |
Distance: | 5 mm |
Trigger Type: | Auto – 2.5 g |
Tare Mode: | Auto |
Data Acquisition Rate: | 400 pps |
1“ Spherical Probe (P/1S) | Max. load: 5 kg |
Max. temperature: 200 °C |
The mean values of composition of Oštiepok cheeses are presented in Table
PCA Analysis of Oštiepok cheeses (sensory parameters: saltines, scroop, consistency, total flavour, odor, smokiness, colour, overall appearance,another foreign taste).
The mean values of Oštiepok cheeses composition.
Product no. | Weight (g) | Dry Matter (wt%) | Fat in Dry Matter (%) | Fat (g.100g-1) | Carbohy- drates (g.100g-1) | Protein (g.100g-1) | NaCl (g.100g-1) | Other Minerals (g.100g-1) | Smoked |
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1 | 356 | 48 | 47 | 22.45 | 1.62 | 19.53 | 2.32 | 1.93 | yes |
2 | 344 | 59 | 48 | 28.01 | 1.83 | 23.31 | 3.81 | 1.82 | yes |
3 | 218 | 62 | 49 | 30.21 | 1.85 | 23.53 | 4.44 | 1.74 | yes |
4 | 390 | 58 | 50 | 28.88 | 1.90 | 23.13 | 2.13 | 1.76 | yes |
5 | 542 | 59 | 49 | 28.65 | 2.62 | 23.25 | 2.28 | 1.83 | yes |
6* | 328 | 55 | 48 | 26.37 | 1.02 | 22.96 | 2.32 | 1.92 | yes |
7 | 356 | 55 | 48 | 26.47 | 1.47 | 23.37 | 1.82 | 1.89 | yes |
8 | 242 | 65 | 54 | 35.35 | 2.10 | 23.43 | 2.48 | 1.78 | yes |
9 | 350 | 60 | 51 | 30.42 | 2.45 | 22.17 | 3.15 | 1.90 | yes |
10 | 368 | 53 | 45 | 24.07 | 2.02 | 21.92 | 3.61 | 1.59 | yes |
11 | 284 | 58 | 51 | 29.54 | 1.93 | 23.08 | 1.52 | 1.92 | yes |
12 | 458 | 60 | 51 | 30.13 | 2.00 | 23.22 | 2.46 | 1.71 | yes |
13 | 360 | 62 | 50 | 30.80 | 1.86 | 23.09 | 4.32 | 1.82 | yes |
14* | 350 | 60 | 49 | 29.78 | 1.77 | 22.73 | 4.32 | 1.90 | yes |
15* | 324 | 57 | 46 | 26.34 | 2.08 | 24.62 | 2.41 | 1.85 | no |
16 | 286 | 51 | 50 | 25.59 | 0.80 | 19.57 | 3.66 | 1.61 | no |
17 | 270 | 63 | 58 | 36.10 | 2.08 | 20.61 | 1.85 | 1.86 | no |
18 | 374 | 53 | 39 | 20.46 | 2.11 | 26.66 | 1.69 | 2.19 | no |
19 | 296 | 56 | 54 | 30.34 | 0.80 | 19.63 | 3.49 | 1.77 | no |
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Mean | 342 | 58 | 49 | 28.42 | 1.81 | 22.62 | 2.85 | 1.83 | |
SD | 74 | 4 | 4 | 3.86 | 0.49 | 1.78 | 0.96 | 0.13 | |
Cv (%) | 22 | 7 | 8 | 13.58 | 27.03 | 7.87 | 33.73 | 7.12 |
Note: Each product n = 3. Mean, SD and Cv n = 57. *Ewe's cheese, but not the O iepok cheese.
The results of the normality test showed that the data had a non-normal distribution; the Shapiro-Wilk's test value was <0.05. Subsequently, we performed a Kruskal-Wallis one-way ANOVA and we found that individual products were statistically different (
The mean values of O tiepok cheeses textural parameters determined by instrumental method.
Middle part of the cheese | Edge part of the cheese | |||||||||||
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Product no. | Firm-ness (kg) | SD (kg) | Cv (%) | Consi-stency (kg.s-1) | SD (kg.s-1) | Cv (%) | Firm- ness (kg) | SD (kg.s-1) | Cv (%) | Consistency (kg.s-1) | SD (kg.s-1) | Cv (%) |
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1 | 0.935 | 0.310 | 33 | 0.699 | 0.265 | 38 | 1.285 | 0.401 | 31 | 0.850 | 0.325 | 38 |
2 | 0.954 | 0.145 | 15 | 0.716 | 0.102 | 14 | 0.779 | 0.351 | 45 | 0.557 | 0.263 | 47 |
3 | 2.078 | 0.281 | 14 | 1.620 | 0.259 | 16 | 1.767 | 0.273 | 15 | 1.319 | 0.253 | 19 |
4 | 0.972 | 0.090 | 9 | 0.774 | 0.074 | 10 | 0.876 | 0.132 | 15 | 0.673 | 0.115 | 17 |
5 | 2.258 | 0.256 | 11 | 1.759 | 0.248 | 14 | 2.189 | 0.277 | 13 | 1.724 | 0.231 | 13 |
6* | 2.374 | 0.459 | 19 | 1.894 | 0.391 | 21 | 2.439 | 0.766 | 31 | 1.645 | 0.584 | 36 |
7 | 0.700 | 0.094 | 13 | 0.507 | 0.071 | 14 | 0.841 | 0.109 | 13 | 0.594 | 0.070 | 12 |
8 | 1.917 | 0.297 | 15 | 1.528 | 0.268 | 18 | 1.380 | 0.366 | 27 | 1.031 | 0.269 | 26 |
9 | 1.349 | 0.533 | 39 | 1.161 | 0.430 | 37 | 2.408 | 1.169 | 49 | 1.978 | 0.989 | 50 |
10 | 0.669 | 0.144 | 22 | 0.486 | 0.099 | 20 | 0.802 | 0.243 | 30 | 0.572 | 0.171 | 30 |
11 | 0.959 | 0.273 | 28 | 0.744 | 0.230 | 31 | 1.130 | 0.211 | 19 | 0.916 | 0.199 | 22 |
12 | 1.285 | 0.256 | 20 | 0.983 | 0.184 | 19 | 1.442 | 0.307 | 21 | 1.083 | 0.271 | 25 |
13 | 2.808 | 0.406 | 14 | 2.259 | 0.318 | 14 | 2.660 | 0.386 | 14 | 2.038 | 0.394 | 19 |
14* | 0.751 | 0.124 | 17 | 0.602 | 0.079 | 13 | 0.919 | 0.237 | 26 | 0.676 | 0.202 | 30 |
15* | 1.320 | 0.157 | 12 | 1.055 | 0.137 | 13 | 1.255 | 0.156 | 12 | 1.005 | 0.145 | 14 |
16 | 0.692 | 0.113 | 16 | 0.510 | 0.090 | 18 | 0.673 | 0.166 | 25 | 0.483 | 0.125 | 26 |
17 | 1.756 | 0.219 | 12 | 1.475 | 0.169 | 11 | 1.625 | 0.248 | 15 | 1.269 | 0.198 | 16 |
18 | 0.796 | 0.168 | 21 | 0.634 | 0.142 | 22 | 0.946 | 0.196 | 21 | 0.706 | 0.146 | 21 |
19 | 0.740 | 0.168 | 23 | 0.529 | 0.145 | 27 | 0.861 | 0.246 | 29 | 0.612 | 0.199 | 33 |
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Mean | 1.332 | 1.049 | 1.383 | 1.038 | ||||||||
SD | 0.666 | 0.547 | 0.632 | 0.495 | ||||||||
Cv (%) | 50 | 52 | 46 | 48 |
Note: SD, Cv n = 15, General Mean, SD and Cv n = 30. *Ewe's cheese, but not the Ošiepok cheese.
The mean value of firmness for middle parts of cheeses was 1.332 kg and 1.383 kg for edge parts. The mean value of consistency for middle parts of cheeses was 1.049 kg.s-1 and 1.038 kg.s-1 for edge parts. There was no significant difference (
Product 1: Ewe's Oštiepok cheese 100% – smoked (Producer: Papúchová D. (Ružomberok, Slovakia), made in: PD Liptovské Revúce, Slovakia).
According to
Product 2: Orava ewe's Oštiepok cheese – smoked (Producer: Panči M. (Ružomberok, Slovakia), made in: Šurinák M. (KOLIBA Revišné, Veličná, Slovakia).
For consumers, texture is a very important factor of quality. It is mainly influenced by the degree of proteolysis, salt, fat and pH (
Cheese texture, especially firmness and sensory properties, changes during the maturing process (
Product 3. Original ewe's Oštiepok cheese – smoked (Producer: Syrex – Zázrivá, Slovakia).
Cheese texture, consistency and structure depend on the degrre of primary proteolysis. Insufficient proteolysis can cause inadequate cheese consistency, which is described as a gum (
Product 4: Ewe's Oštiepok cheese – smoked (Producer: Plachtinská farm – Baránek, Slovakia).
The firmness of the cheese can also be influenced by the penetration of NaCl (
We have found statistically significant (
Product 5: Oštiepok, 100% ewe's cheese – smoked (Producer: Bryndziareň and syráreň – Zvolenská Slatina, Slovakia).
The results of the normality test showed that the data had a non-normal distribution; the Shapiro-Wilk's test value was <0.05. Subsequently, we performed a Kruskal-Wallis one-way ANOVA and we found that individual products were statistically different (
Product 6: Ewe's cheese Kolibka Spiš – smoked (Producer: Endel M. – VALACH (Sp. Nová Ves, Slovakia), made in: Kluknavská dairy – OOD Jaklovce, Slovakia), (Note: this is Ewe's cheese, not the Ošiepok cheese).
The sensory properties of Oštiepok cheeses were different because the technological process can slightly differ between the producers. Some of the most important factors, which can affect this process are: milk pasteurisation temperature, rennet, rennet dose and power, temperature of milk during curdling, different curd processing and mixing time, pressing to the form, salting, drying, smoking, temperature during storrage and maturation. Differences in these technological steps lead to the differences in textural and sensory parameter, which we were identified in this work. The quality of the traditional product can varies from farm to farm and is also different among farmers. Figure
Product 7: Ewe's Oštiepok cheese – smoked (Producer: Badánik – Salaš Krajinka, Slovakia).
Similar results and differences in quality of traditional products have also been achieved by
The temperature during cheese maturation influences the content of microorganisms (
In the case of microbial cross contamination, or inadequate pasteurisation, the risk of the presence of microorganisms will increase. Figure
Product 8: Oštiepok Ewe's cheese – smoked (Producer: Konečný I. – KONNY (Trenčín, SLovakia), made in: Dairy Krivá, Slovakia).
There is a lot of microorganisms, which can affect the quality and safety of the product.
The process of cheese maturation affects the growth of probiotic cultures in cheese (
The occurence of
It is necessary to follow the rules of good hygiene practice, good manufacturing practice, sanitation, to use raw milk of good quality in the production of cheese and to follow the HACCP system guide (
In our experiment we have identified one product, No. 9 (Figure
Product 9: Ewe's Oštiepok cheese – smoked (Producer: Zúbek M. – OBERT(Ladce, Slovakia)).
Sensory properties can be influenced by the addition of flavorings (
We agree, cheeses analysed in this work had characteristic special shape, taste and odor and ovrall appearance. We found that most of the Oštiepok cheese had these properities (Figures
Product 10: Ewe's Oštiepok cheese – smoked (Producer: Zvara J. (Detva, Slovakiaka)).
Product 11: Ewe's Oštiepok cheese – smoked (Producer: Agrosev made in: Plachtinská farm Baránek, Slovakia).
Product 12: Oštiepok – Ewe's cheese – smoked (Producer: AgroIna (Banská Bystrica, Slovakia).
The natural preservation method, such as smoking at the salaš (small farm in the mountain region) delivers to Oštiepok cheese a typical golden brown to brown color and typical taste. (
It is, because cheese taste is the result of the balance between volatile and non-volatile chemical compounds (
From the consumer point of view, it is important to ensure the quality and safety of the products. Because ewe's milk is more expensive than cow’s milk, adulteration of Oštiepok cheese may occur. Oštiepok cheese produces with the addition of cow’s milk are issued as products made only from ewe's milk. Various laboratory methods can be used to detect adulteration (
Product 13: Original Oštiepok ewe's cheese - smoked (Producer: Chlustová P. (Liptovský Mikuláš, Slovakia), made in: Syrex (Zázrivá, Slovakia)).
Product 14: Orava ewe's cheese – smoked (not(Producer: Válek M. (Revišné – Veličná, Slovakia), made in: Šurinák M. – Koliba Revišné (Veličná, Slovakia)) (Note: this cheese was not labelled as the Oštiepok cheese, but it meets its requrements).
Product 15: Ewe's cheese Kolibka Spiš - steamed (Producer: Endel M. Jr. – VALACH (Sp. Nová Ves, Slovakia), made in: Kluknavská dairy – ODD Jaklovce, Slovakia) (Note: this is Ewe's cheese, not the Ošiepok cheese).
As part of our experiment, we have tested three ewe's cheeses, which were not the Oštiepok cheese (Products No. 6, No. 14 and No. 15) but sometimes the consumers may buy them instead of the Oštiepok cheese. These products had a different look, they were shaped like a bowl or the loaf. The composition of these cheese were similar to Oštiepok cheeses. The producer of the product No. 14. didn't use the possibility to mark this product as the Oštiepok cheese despite the fact that this product meets the requirements of the Oštiepok cheese. In the case of the Products No. 6 and 15 the difference was in one extra technological step – steaming the cheese in hot water and in the case of the product No. 15 also the the addition of dairy culture. The labelling of these products was correct. The producers correctly did not mark them as the oštiepok cheese. Figure
Product 16: Original ewe's Oštiepok cheese – fresh (Producer: Chlustová P. (Liptovský Mikuláš, Slovakia), made in: Syrex (Zázrivá, Slovakia)).
Product 17: Oštiepok Ewe's cheese – fresh (Producer: Dairy Krivá (Krivá, Slovakia)).
The consumers can distinguish traditional products, but some may have a problem. It is therefore appropriate to designate such products with a specific protected geographical indication PGI mark of the European Union. At the time of our experiment, no producer of Oštiepok cheese in Slovakia used the protected geographical indication (PGI) mark “Slovenský oštiepok“ in the product labelling or in its immediate vicinity of the product during its sale despite the fact that the Slovak Republic has such possibility given by the European Union and Slovak legislation. It means, the competent government authority Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of the Slovak Republic and interested parties like the Dairy association od the Slovak Republic or the Union of sheep and goat breeders of the Slovak Republic should do more to inform the producers of the possibility to mark this Slovak national specialty with PGI mark and help them with a bureaucratic process of this matter. It will then be necessary to carry out an information campaign for consumers to recognize such traditional products from ordinary products in the market. Figure
Product 18: Orava ewe's Oštiepok cheese – fresh (Producer: Panči M. (Ružomberok), made in: Šurinák M. – Koliba Revišné (Veličná, Slovakia)).
Product 19: Original ewe's Oštiepok cheese – fresh (Producer: Syrex (Zázrivá, Slovakia)).
Oštiepok cheese is a traditional half-fat semi-hard cheese made in Slovakia. Oštiepok cheese can be made from raw ewe's milk, a mixture of ewe's and cow's milk or cow's milk. Oštiepok cheese is characterised by its remarkable shape, that of a large egg, pine cone or ellipsoid, and is decorated according to the practices and with the typical designs of the individual area in which it is produced. The surface of this cheese is firm, smooth and shiny. Subsequent smoking gives the product its typical colour, smoked aroma and taste. This special process is originated in and is carried out throughout the entire delimited area of Slovakia mainly in small montains farms called salaš or in dairy companies. We have found significant (
This work is a part of the research project APVV 16-0244 „Qualitative factors influencing on production and consumption of milk and cheeses“ solved at the Department of Marketing and Trade, Faculty of Economics and Management, Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra