Abstract:
This study concerns the physicochemical and microbiological characterization of Naama’s Jben. Four Jben samples from cow’s, goat’s and sheep’s milk, were made and analyzed; the results for the physicochemical analyse show that the cow’s Jben has the highest level of acidity and the highest fat contents (pH= 4.52, Fat= 18.13%) followed by goat’s Jben with intermediate values (pH= 4.98, Fat= 13%) and finally sheep’s (pH= 5.4 and 6.41; Fat= 11.25 and 10.5%). For proteins, cow’s and sheep’s Jben have high values (18.62% for cow’s and 14 and 22% for sheep’s Jben); goat’s Jben has the lowest protein contents (10%); these values seem to depend on the origin of milk and the method of cheese making. The microbiological study of the micro-flora of these artisanal cheeses allowed us to see a dominance of Lactic Acid Bacteria which is 86.6% for cow’s Jben and 66.6% for goat’s Jben, with an abundance of genera of acidifying bacteria. The composition of the lactic micro-flora for cow’s Jben is: 42.31% of Enterococcus, 20.08% Lactococcus, 30.76% Pediococcus and 3.85% Leuconostoc; while for goat’s Jben we have: 35% of Enterococcus, 30% Pediococcus, 20% Lactococcus and 15% Lactobacillus.
