Effect of the addition of aromatic plants on the physicochemical and fatty acid composition and antioxidant activity of cows milk curds

Silviya Ivanova, Daniela Miteva, Tsonka Odjakova, Ayten Solak, Pavel Todorov

Abstract: The purpose of the study is to determine the influence of biologically active additives in different concentrations on the organoleptic evaluation, physicochemical and fatty acid composition, antioxidant activity, and total polyphenols of cow's milk curd obtained from highly productive Bulgarian Rhodope cattle. The technological processing of collected cow's milk into curd with the addition of different concentrations of peppermint, turmeric, and black pepper leads to an increase in yield. A loss of protein was detected when aromatic plants were added to the curd, but the amount of fat increased, and it was enriched with fibber.
The technological processing of curd with the addition of different concentrations of aromatic plants results in an improvement of the fatty acid composition of the curd, characterized by a decrease in saturated fatty acids and an increase in mono- and polyunsaturated fatty acids. The use of plant supplements in varying concentrations results in a reduction of the atherogenic and thrombogenic indices. The hypo-hypercholesterolemic index in the curd is 0.31 and increases slightly when additives with different concentrations are added.
All types of additives lead to an improvement in the antioxidant activity of the curd, with the highest values obtained with rosemary. In terms of total polyphenol content, the best results were achieved with rosemary supplementation.

Keywords: biologically active additive; Bulgarian Rhodope cattle; fat; polyphenols; protein; yield

Citation: Ivanova, S., Miteva, D., Odjakova, Ts., Solak, A. & Todorov, P. (2025). Effect of the addition of aromatic plants on the physicochemical and fatty acid composition and antioxidant activity of cow’s milk curds. Bulg. J. Agric. Sci., 31(6), 1187–1197

Date published: 2025-12-16