Physical and Chemical Characterization of Mascarpone Cheese with Fish Gelatin as a Fat Substitute

Mascarpone cheese is a type of cheese with high fat content and a mild flavor. These features make this cheese an ingredient commonly used in many and different food products. However, these products usually have high fat and sugar contents. This, coupled with the mascarpone fat content, makes them nutritionally unattractive. This study describes the effect of adding gelatin from marine wastes as a fat substitute in mascarpone cheese and its impact on rheological and textural properties of this cheese. Six different samples of mascarpone cheese were prepared, where two fish gelatins (yellowfin tuna and blue shark) were tested as partial fat replacers, at two different percentages: 15% and 25%; a commercial product was included for comparative purposes. The results showed, for both marine species, reduced fat content, when compared to the control. The samples with yellowfin tuna gelatin had similar rheological and textural properties, when compared with control and commercial product. However, the mascarpone cheese with blue shark gelatin had less softness. The color was not affected by the inclusion of gelatin. In general, the addition of 15% gelatin showed a strong similarity to the commercial product and the control sample, and the sample with 15% tuna gelatin showed the best results from both sensorial and nutritional points of view.