Botanero Cheese: Recipe, Properties and Precautions

He botanero cheese It is a fresh Mexican soft cheese made in an artisanal way from raw cow's milk. It is typical of the central highlands, specifically the northwest of the state of Mexico; that is, of the states bordering the Federal District, Tlaxcala, Puebla and Mexico.

Its name comes from the word"botana", which in Mexican jargon means"appetizer", since it is usually consumed in small portions accompanied by drinks, especially at parties. The peculiarity of the botanero cheese is that in its preparation chiles -chipotle or jalapeño- are added to the natural or pickled.

The traditional epazote of Mexican herbs is also added, as well as ham, sausage, sesame seeds or other ingredients. Milk comes from Holstein breed cows and its production is strongly seasonal, so cheese production increases in the rainy season and decreases in the dry season.

Recipe

The botanero cheese, badly called Manchego type cheese, has a mild flavor, a characteristic white color and a very salty taste. It does not show bark or holes and usually appears in a cylindrical shape, 5 to 7 cm high.

When it is elaborated in an artisanal way with raw milk, its hygienic-sanitary quality is often doubtful, therefore efforts are made to implement good manufacturing practices that improve the hygienic measures in the process of elaboration, storage and expedition of the products. products.

It is necessary to point out in this sense, that the seasonings added to it as fresh cuaresmeño chile ( Capsicum annuum L ) and epazote ( Chenopodium ambrosioides ) or chipotle chili have antibacterial properties.

The recipe that will be given next incorporates the pasteurization of milk into the traditional manufacturing method.

Pasteurization consists of heating the milk at a certain temperature for a defined time, and aims at the total destruction of the pathogenic microorganisms present, as well as the maximum destruction of non-pathogens that could compromise conservation under refrigeration.

The pasteurized botanero cheese is made like this:

- Strain the milk in order to remove particles in suspension. It is usually done in a funnel made with a blanket.

- Then it is pasteurized, heating it in a container at 63 ˚C for 30 minutes, then cooling it by immersion in cold water until it reaches between 34 and 38 ˚C.

- Calcium chloride is an optional additive that is added to milk in a proportion of 20%, to increase the cheese yield.

- The rennet is added in an amount equivalent to 1.5 ml of liquid rennet for 7 l of milk, vigorously shaken and left to rest. After approximately 30 minutes, it can be observed that the curd begins to separate from the container when introducing a knife, lyre or pallet.

- At that moment, the curd is cut into cubes of approximately 2 cm and left to rest again for approximately 5 minutes. It moves smoothly in a circular way or from front to back, so that the pieces of curd are small and uniform.

- Proceed to remove the whey from the curd and compress gently without breaking it, until most of the whey is removed.

- The curd is sorted in molds of wood, plastic or stainless steel in the form of layers (2 to 4), adding the salt, the chilies and, between layer and layer, the other ingredients as desired, such as cilantro, ham , onions, carrots or garlic in vinegar, olives, capers and epazote.

- The molds are inverted after two hours, being careful not to break the curd and making sure that the whey continues to drain. The cheeses are then ready to be consumed.

Properties

The yield is relatively high since you get between 12 and 14 kg of botanero cheese per 100 l of milk. The cheeses come in cylinders that can weigh 250 to 500 g.

Its duration under refrigeration temperatures is 7 to 20 days, depending on the hygiene during the elaboration and the ingredients added.

The most common defects found in botanero cheese are related to the following:

Pollution due to bad practices

The cheese shows swelling, putrefaction and the presence of round holes, which are indicators of faecal contamination.

Consumption after the expiration date

In this case the surface of the cheese is slug or the bark is moldy.

Inadequate preservation under refrigeration temperatures

In this case it would be enough to wash it and scrub it with salt water to eliminate the microorganisms present.

Precautions

Studies have been done on the hygienic quality of both the milk used as raw material and the unpasteurized botanero cheese. In the case of milk, mesophilic aerobic bacteria and total coliforms were analyzed; and in the cheese the total and fecal coliforms were quantified.

These results were compared with that established by Mexican standards. The conclusions show that all the counts exceeded the allowed value of aerobic mesophilic bacteria and total coliforms.

The standard allows up to 100 Colony Forming Units (CFU) per gram of total coliforms, and the values ​​found were far above. The absence of fecal coliforms should also be confirmed and in all samples of botanero cheese the presence of these bacteria was shown.

The studies conclude that not only raw milk is acquired with low microbiological quality, but also the manufacture of cheese adds more pollution to the final product, which constitutes a risk to human health.

Inhibitory effect of the ingredients

Other works have focused on demonstrating the inhibitory effect on the microbial growth of the ingredients added to the botanero cheese.

The literature points out that phenolic substances and capsaisin, an active component of hot peppers that is also present in the extracts of habanero peppers, poblano, serrano, pepper, among others, show an antibacterial effect against some pathogens and lactic bacteria.

On the other hand, the epazote, paico or Mexican tea, contains ascaridol, which is a natural organic compound used as an anthelmintic in the control of nematodes.

However, although these compounds reduce the bacterial count in terms of reducing the number of CFU per gram, they do not make it possible for the cheese to meet the microbiological requirements required by the standard.

References

1. Cheese botanero (2012) in university tasks. Retrieved on March 18, 2018 from tareasuniversitarias.com
2. Espinoza-Ortega, A., Escobar-Lopez, S., Salazar-Garcia, F. and Martinez-Campos, Á. (2017). Analysis of the antibacterial effect of pepper (Capsicum annuum spp) and epazote (Chenopudium ambrosioides) used in the production of botanero cheese. Mexican Journal of Animal Science, 8 (2), p.211.
3. Technology to make botanero cheese (2012) in Fundación Produce Sinaloa A.C.. Retrieved on March 19, 2018 from fps.org.mx
4. Vázquez-Fontes, C., Sánchez Vera, E., Castelán-Ortega, O. and Espinoza-Ortega, A. (2010). Microbiological Quality of artisan-made Mexican botanero cheese in the Central Highlands. Journal of Food Safety, 30 (1), pp.40-50.
5. Villegas de Gante, A., Cesín Vargas, A. and Espinoza Ortega, A. (2013). The genuine Mexican cheeses. 2nd ed. State of Mexico: College of Post Graduates.