The very successful trial of Bactrian Camel Milk (BCaM) Cheese
Making cheese from camel milk is always very complicated and difficult because of the very strong and stable nature of camel milk. Camel milk has certain molecules which resist coagulation of it, therefore camel milk is one of the most stable kinds of milk with a longer shelf life in natural systems. While using the camel chymosin and adapting certain procedures, some people have successfully made the camel milk cheese from the dromedaries. For the first time, the author made a BCaM cheese possible without camel chymosin.
Camel milk cheese of Bactrian in Mongolia
The Bactrian camel milk (BCaM) is more stable and difficult to turn into cheese but there are some very good things helping in making more cheese of the BCaM, the higher fat contents (more fats but as healthy as the Dromedary milk). This quality of the BCaM gives an opportunity to harvest more cheese (10 kg milk with a 1.2 kg cheese)
The concept and methodology behind the cheese making from BCaM
Though, we will not disclose the exact methodology of successful cheese and ice cream making from the BCaM at the moment because the process is still ongoing for the improvement and solid conclusion of the product. We are still behind in getting the taste and texture of the BCaM cheese.
I shall share the basic concept of cheese making from BCaM here
- We heated the milk and added a source of acidic compound (edible) to decrease the Ph of the milk.
- Then decreased the temperature to around 40 C and added chymosin (cow-calf rennet as camel chymosin was not available)
- I stored the milk for more than 6 hours as it is only 4 hours period in cow milk.
- After a long maturating time, I found very good crud with soft cheese.
- I filtered the curd with muslin or cheesecloth (3 layers) and harvested a very soft cheese.
- We put the soft cheese at room temperature in a dry clean environment to get dry and harder.
Cheese before and after the dehydration
We just got this soft cheese (in the image below) before going through the process of dehydration. It was very soft and easily breakable and dissolvable. The taste of the soft cheese was very good, a little creamy because of the higher fats contents in the BCaM.
After the dehydration, the cheese became thicker and harder. The texture and taste, both improved. The flavor we very camel milky. The product did not get a very cheesy taste like that in cow milk.
Acknowledgment
This great achievement was gained because of a great team of people and organizations. Without the support and conceptualization of FOA, the project leader Althanshaghai, Dayne (facilitator) of the TESO company, Ghakssan (lab head), and international friends it would never possible to make camel milk cheese of the Bactrian camel. I really appreciate their role and support in this great achievement.
Relevant articles about the Bactrian camel in Mongolia
- Mongolian Bactrian camel -Breeding, Milk Production, and Lactation Curve
- https://arkbiodiv.com/2018/06/21/the-camel-milk-story-from-the-gobi-desert-mongolia/
- Physicochemical quality of Bactrian camel milk
- Do the camel drink brackish or saltish water?
Well done for this work. But in your protocole you did not give more information on the microbiological charge of the raw material and on the PH at the different steps of the cheese making. Moreover, to develop the cheese aroma, it is essentiel to add starters from different origin. You mention that « the temperature was decreased at 40•C ». Does it mean that you used previously the thermization or pasteurisation of the milk?? If it is the case, it could lead to friable clot after drying.Have you such observations? Did you add salt for stabilising the clot?
Elsewhere, I allow me to recall that a camel cheese with Bactrian camel milk was done in 2006 (see http://camelides.cirad.fr/fr/curieux/from_chamelle.html) with Camifloc in Mongolia, with the NGO Vétérinaires Sans Frontiers and in 2012 in Kazakhstan with Chy-max where dozen farmers were trained for cheese making
So, I encourage you for the future to work with professional cheese technologists. We learned a lot of things with them to improve our experience on cheese making both with dromedary and Bactrian milk.
Best regards
Thanks very much for your feedback. I shall share further details in the coming weeks. I’m agreeing with you sir.
Best regards
Thanks very much sir for your kind response and feedback. I really appreciate your role in the camelid’s world. Yes, I heated the milk up to 62 C and then added acetic acid to decrease the Ph to 6.2 and let the temperature decreased to the 40 C and then added the chymosin HCR Hansan. I kept the culture for maturation more than 8 hours and after that I found a curd and filtered with the achievement of a soft cheese. I’m agree with the role of the professional cheese makers but we should try for scientific foundations of the camel milk cheese. I shall be very happy to share all the information soon.
Best regards
It looks very nice soft cheese from Bactrian camel milk. Good job Doc.
I made soft cheese also, but from dromedary (one-hump camel) milk. Unfortunately, I could not share cheese photos here. A recombinant camel chymosin (Ch. Hansen, Denmark) was the renneting enzyme, since calf chymosin did not work. The research finding has not been published.
Best regards.
Thanks for your feedback. We can work together for better cheese quality and finding market for this valuable food item.
Best regards
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