Abstract:
Bouhezza is an Algerian traditional cheese, manufactured and consumed in the Chaouia area in the North-East of the country. It is manufactured with milk of cow, goat, ewe or by their mixture. Thus, its manufacture requires the preparation of a bag with the whole animal
skin of goat or ewe (Chekoua).The various stages of manufacture included the aging that take four to ten weeks are carried inside Chekoua. In order to contribute to the characterization of Bouhezza, the principal objective of this work is to study the total lipidic fraction of the ripened traditional cheese. Six various samples Bouhezza cheese collected from six family farms localized in the rural area of the wilaya of Oum El Bouaghi were studied. The cheeses were ripened inside Chakoua during 30 days, and only three are spiced with the hot red pepper powder. The characterization of cheeses related to the physico-chemical parameters (pH, acidity, dry matter, salt, fat, total nitrogen and soluble proteins in pH 4.6), the unsaturated fatty acids (acid linoleic, acid linolenic and conjugated linoleic acids (CLA)), moreover the content of liposoluble vitamins (β-carotene and α-tocopherol). The results show that the collected cheeses have a dry matter of 26.08 ± 1.65g per one hundred grams of cheese and a fat content of 33.69 ± 5.19g per one hundred grams of dry matter. The pH is 3.92 ± 0.19 and the acidity is 5.27 ± 0.48g of lactic acid per one hundred grams of dry matter. The rate of maturation (SN/TN) is 9.5 ± 3.24%.
The contents in linoleic acid, linolenic acid and conjugated linoleic acids referred to 100g of Bouhezza are between 145.7 to 1184.8 mg, 69.9 to 276.8 mg and 6.0 to 11.5 mg respectively. The variation of the concentration of these unsaturated fatty acids in the samples
can be explained by their composition and their fat content. The cheeses liposoluble vitamins content (β-carotene and α-tocopherol) varies
respectively from 0.03 to 0.2mg/100g and from 0.1 to 0.5 mg/100g. The spiced samples have the highest β-carotene content.
