The work described in this Research Communication addressed the hypothesis that it is possible to produce cheese from donkey milk by appropriate adjusting of the cheesemaking parameters. A series of coagulation trials were performed on donkey milk, alone or fortified with goat milk (85/15 and 70/30, v/v), using calf rennet under different technological conditions. The parameters that changed were pH and concentration of soluble calcium, amount of rennet added and temperature of coagulation. Donkey milk gave rise to sufficiently firm curd only at ‘extreme’ technological conditions and, as expected, addition of goat milk improved coagulation. A cheesemaking protocol was developed for producing fresh cheese prototypes, which were checked for microbiological safety, chemical composition and sensory characteristics. Pure donkey milk gave 5·9% yield, cheese having 6·12 pH, 32·4% dry matter, 2·1% fat and 18·5% protein. The electrophoretic analysis ascertained that β-casein was the most abundant compound in donkey cheese, but whey proteins were also present in non-negligible amounts. Finally, the sensory evaluation demonstrated that all cheeses were acceptable and provided detailed description of their flavour characteristics.

Water buffalo Mozzarella cheese is more appreciated in the summer, but milk production is higher during wintertime, as water buffalo are seasonally polyoestrous animals. The aim of the study reported in this Research Communication was to evaluate the effect of the reversing of the calving period on Mozzarella cheese composition and quality traits. Ten batches of Mozzarella cheeses produced during the summer and winter periods were analysed for pH, colour, chemical composition. Seasonal differences were observed for cheese yield (26·66% in winter and 25·61% in summer), moisture content (66·54% in winter and 61·18% in summer) colour and consumer evaluation.

Pecorino cheeses were produced using two different manufacturing procedures (either from raw milk or from milk previously subject to a thermisation at 65 °C for 10 s with the addition of starter culture) using the milk obtained from three groups of ewes fed three different concentrates: (1) control, (2) control enriched with 100 g/kg of extruded linseed, and (3) control enriched with 200 g/kg of extruded linseed. All concentrates were administered with alfalfa hay ad libitum. The extruded linseed-enriched diets increased the concentration of n-3 fatty acids, conjugated linoleic acid, and monounsaturated and polyunsaturated acids in raw milk and thermised milk cheese and decreased the concentration of saturated fatty acids. Changes in the manufacturing procedure did not influence the fatty acid composition of the cheeses but markedly influenced their sensory properties. In particular, heat-treating the milk and adding a starter reduced the differences in cheese odour, flavour and toughness induced by the diet when raw milk was used. Cheeses made with thermised milk and the addition of starter culture were more uniform and obtained a higher score in the preference test compared with the corresponding raw milk cheeses. An appropriate manufacturing process, therefore, can be a possible strategy to obtain cheeses with improved health-promoting properties and an unaltered acceptance level by consumers.