Some Properties and Conjugated Linoleic Acid Contents of Products Produced by Traditional Methods and Marketed as Buffalo Cream

Kaymak is a dairy product that is obtained by boiling and then cooling of milk according to the technique in traditional production and is defined as cream containing minimum 60% of milk fat. The buffalo cream, produced in homes by traditional methods, is obtained from buffalo milk. Although there are studies on the chemical, microbiological and K. Kocatürk, Ö. Gökçe, F. Ergin, A. Küçükçetin, O. Gürsoy Akademik Gıda 17(4) (2019) 476-484 477 sensorial properties of buffalo cream in the literature, there are only few studies that determined the conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) content of cream produced from buffalo milk by traditional methods in Turkey. In this study, some physicochemical and microbiological properties, fatty acid composition and conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) contents of products obtained from 8 different producers engaged in buffalo cultivation in Kütahya (Turkey) and marketed as buffalo cream were determined. The dry matter and fat contents and pH values of the kaymak samples were found to range from 57.48-to 64.41%, from 34.00 to 53.00% and from 6.66 to 7.06, respectively. It is clear that selling these products under the name of Kaymak is not suitable in accordance with the Turkish Food Codex of Milk Cream and Kaymak, since fat content of these products is less than 60%. The L*, a* and b* values of kaymak samples were determined to vary from 84.27 to 89.31, from 1.44 to 2.51 and from 4.45 to 6.89 respectively, and the hardness values of kaymak samples were determined vary from19.98 to 232.78 g. The mould and yeast counts of kaymak samples were found to range from 3.78 to 6.48 log cfu/g. While the dominant fatty acids were saturated fatty acids (51.32%) in all kaymak samples, the monounsaturated fatty acids and polyunsaturated fatty acids were determined as 31.51% and 5.43%, respectively. While the highest proportion of fatty acids in the samples were palmitic acid and myristic acid, oleic acid was found to be mainly unsaturated fatty acid. The CLA content of kaymak samples varied from 11.26 to 14.38 mg/g fatty acid methyl ester. These CLA contents are higher than CLA values that reported for cow milk fat, in literature. As a result, products which cannot be named as kaymak, have high content of CLA and it has been evaluated that consumption of these products may have potential health benefits.