Determination of the effect of fat percentage on functionality of Low Moisture Mozzarella Cheese made by cow milk

Abstract

Low Moisture Mozzarella cheese is a member of pasta filata, or stretched curd cheese. It is distinguished by a plasticizing and kneading treatment of the fresh curd in hot water, which imparts to the finished cheese its characteristic fibrous structure, and melting and stretching properties. Low Moisture Mozzarella has much lower water content (typically 47- 48 %), longer shelf life,firmer body, good shredding properties than the other types of mozzarella cheeses, and is used primarily as ingredients for pizza and related foods. This study was focused on the determination of effect of fat percentage on functionality of Low Moisture Mozzarella cheese made by cow milk. The effect of fat percentage was determined by standardizing cow milk to fat percentage of 2.6 %, 2.9 %, 3.2 % and 3.5 % to achieve four different cheese samples. Cheese manufacturing time, stretching time, concentration of salt, pH and calcium percentage was not changed during the manufacturing process. Cheese moisture,protein, ash and fat contents were evaluated after 7 days of manufacturing. Meltability and stretchability of frozen samples were evaluated after 7 and 14 days respectively. As the fat percentage was increased, there was a decrease in moisture and protein content of the cheese. However, the moisture & protein did not replace the fat on an equal basis. But, the decrease in the overall amount of moisture is much more less than that of the protein amount Statistical Analysis revealed that a significant difference in stretch and melt between cheeses with different fat percentages. Stretchability was not significantly different for cheeses and meltability was significantly different during freezing storage for 14 days. Fat percentage of 3.2% can be recommended as the best fat content to produce Low Moisture Mozzarella cheese with optimum quality characteristics such as flavour, colour, sourness, appearance and overall acceptability. But problems associated with sensory characteristic, particularly hardness should be developed.