Food and Nutrition Sciences, 2014, 5, 366-375 Published Online February 2014 (http://www.scirp.org/journal/fns) http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/fns.2014.54044 Compositional, Functional and Sensory Characteristics of Selected Mexican Cheeses Irma Caro1, Sergio Soto2, Lucía Fuentes1,3, Néstor Gutiérrez-Méndez4, Briselda García-Islas2, Karol E. Monroy-Gayosso2, Javier Mateo1* 1Departamento de Higiene y Tecnología de los Alimentos, Universidad de León, León, Spain; 2Centro de Investigación en Ciencia y Tecnología de los Alimentos, Instituto de Ciencias Agropecuarias, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Hidalgo, Tulancingo, Mex- ico; 3Instituto Tecnológico Superior del Oriente del Estado de Hidalgo, Apan, Mexico; 4Facultad de Ciencias Químicas, Universidad Autónoma de Chihuahua, Chihuahua, Mexico. Email: *
[email protected] Received October 29th, 2013; revised November 29th, 2013; accepted December 8th, 2013 Copyright © 2014 Irma Caro et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. In accordance of the Creative Commons Attribution License all Copyrights © 2014 are reserved for SCIRP and the owner of the intellectual property Irma Caro et al. All Copyright © 2014 are guarded by law and by SCIRP as a guardian. ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to describe the compositional, functional and sensory properties of six traditional Mexican cheeses: Panela, Oaxaca, Manchego, Manchego Botanero, Tenate, and Morral. A total of 50 cheeses were analysed. Relevant compositional parameters including pH, aw, proximate composition, NaCl, sugars, lactic and acetic acids, mineral contents, free-amino acid nitrogen, fat acid degree value and total fatty acids were de- termined.