Il formaggio Caciofiore prodotto nelle Marche: influenza del caglio da cardo sulle dinamiche microbiche

In recent times there is a growing interest of both the dairy industry and consumers towards plant-based milk coagulants. Among the latter, those obtained from Cynara cardunculus L. are undoubtedly the most exploited at industrial level. In this study, two milk coagulants prepared by maceration of Onopordum tauricum Willd. flowers collected from spontaneous and cultivated cardoons, respectively, were used for pilot-scale manufacturing of Caciofiore, a typical raw ewe’s milk cheese produced in the Marche region (central Italy). Besides to the experimental coagulants, a commercially available rennet prepared from Cynara cardunculus L. was used as a control in the cheese-making trials. The effect of the experimental and control rennets on the microbial dynamics of Caciofiore cheese during its ripening was investigated by using a combined approach based on culture-dependent and DNA-based (Illumina sequencing) analyses. As a general trend, the coagulant showed a negligible effect in respect to the milk microflora. However, significant differences were seen in the composition of the bacterial and fungal biota of the control and experimental cheeses. Based on the results overall collected, O. tauricum can be recommended for its exploitation as an alternative plant-based milk coagulant for manufacturing of ewe’s milk cheeses.