Drying of Akcakatik Cheese in a Newly Designed and Manufactured Cheese Dryer

Abstract

Akçakatik cheese, which is one of the local cheeses of Burdur, is a cheese that works with parameters that will provide the drying process, design and production with traditional methods, a drying temperature of 25 °C, a drying air speed of 1.5 m/s, and a moisture determination of 20% in the dried product. Drying was done with a dryer. With the traditional method, cheese is pressed into the bowel that is cleaned and dried under hygienic conditions, matured in the open air and shade for 3-4 months or dried in the sun. The drying process was completed for 3 days, by drying for 3 hours every day, by kneading the cheese again after the drying process was finished, and resting the cheese at +4°C until the same drying time the next day. Dry matter ratio increased from 34.44% to 62.55% in cheese after drying process, and the fat ratio varied between 18-19.5%. It was observed that the fat ratios in dry matter decreased from 52.26% to 31.17%. The dry matter values of the samples obtained in the study were found to be quite close to those of cheeses that had matured for at least 2-3 months.