Goat Milk

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Ricotta cheese is a soft, slightly sweet, mild fresh cheese. Ricotta is similar in appearance to cottage cheese, but has a much smaller, grainier curd and slightly sweeter taste. Ricotta in Italian means “cooked again,” a reference to the fact that it is traditionally made from whey produced from making other cheeses, like mozzarella, feta or provolone.

The original cheese-making process removes the majority of the casein protein from the goat milk (the cheese) leaving behind the liquid whey portion.When left at room temperature, the original inoculating bacteria continue to act upon the remaining lactose in the whey, converting it to lactic acid, and further lowering the pH of the liquid. The lower pH reduces the solubility of the small amount of remaining protein in the whey. Heating the whey then causes the protein to precipitate out as a very fine-grained curd.

As ricotta is basically the “leftovers” from cheese-making, it takes a significant amount of whey to produce a small amount of ricotta. In view of this, some recipes call for the addition of whole milk to the whey in order to increase the yield.

Ricotta may be best known in the United States as an ingredient in lasagna and ravioli, but it also serves as the basis for many desserts, like cannoli and cheesecake. Ricotta can also be served in a manner similar to a pudding by adding sweeteners and flavorings and stirring until smooth.

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The alpha s1-casein is a protein polymorphism of goat milk first described in Europe, in the French Alpine and Saanen breeds, in the early nineteen eighties, and is one found in all dairy goat breeds.

These polymorphisms have been found to affect cheese-making due to differences in protein content, renneting properties (faster coagulation and firmer curd) and a possible connection in relation to cheese flavor. In one study, the results of researches conducted on homozygous individuals for the various alleles confirmed the effects of genotype on the casein content in milk by showing the cheese-making yield observed in milk produced by those animals with strong alleles was 7 per cent higher in comparison with those with medium alleles and 15 per cent  higher than those with weak alleles.

Knowing the specific genetic polymorphism at goat casein loci on breeding stock would allow the breeder to set up breeding and selection programs targeted towards the improvement of cheese-making yield by selecting for high expression alleles, or selecting for animals with low levels which may be of benefit to those with milk or casein  sensitivities.

Fortunately, Veterinary Genetics Laboratory at University of California, Davis, is making such testing possible in the United States. The test is designed to detect animal with high level variants and low level variants for casein. Accordingly, any combination of animal with high content of alpha s1-casein will produce high amounts of alpha s1-casein in milk. A combination of animal with a high content of alpha s1-casein in milk and low content of alpha s1-casein will produce intermediate amounts of alpha s1-casein. Any combination of animal with low content of alpha s1-casein will produce low amounts of alpha s1-casein in milk.

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