Acta Scientiarum Polonorum Technologia Alimentaria

This research aims to assess the effect of Calotropis procera plant stems as a coagulant treatment on the Wangashi cheese in order to characterize and standardize its production. Crude extract obtained from the Calotropis plant stems added to milk powder were used as a solution dissolved at various pH (4–8) and temperature (35–80°C) in order to examine the effect of pH and temperature on milk clotting and proteolytic activities. The pH 5.5 and temperature of 70°C were recorded as optimum pH and temperature. After that the concentration of the crude extract enzyme was assayed to purify it using ammonium sulfate precipitation at various percentage of saturation (20–80%) at determined optimum pH and temperature, whereby the saturation of 70% was detected to be the best because of its high specific activity, yield and purification fold. Two types of Wangashi cheese were produced in laboratory, one using directly the crude extract and the other the purified crude extract from Calotropis procera at optimum condition. Their chemical, textural and color properties were determined using standard methods. A significant difference between parameters tested was observed (p < 0.05). A decrease in moisture content, increase in protein content and also an improvement of color and textural parameters were recorded for the cheese obtained using purified crude extract Calotropis procera staems.