Abstract
High-moisture mozzarella is a pasta filata cheese manufactured from cow or buffalo milk that has spread all over the world. Its manufacturing from the milk of small ruminants (goat and sheep) has been recently proposed to innovate this ailing sector. Previously, a protocol was reported for making goat mozzarella from unpasteurized milk but, according to legislation, the microbiological safety of raw milk fresh cheeses is not guaranteed. In the present research, two new protocols were tested for producing mozzarella from pasteurized milk prepared by two different low-temperature long-time treatments (67 °C or 63 °C × 30 min). The obtained cheeses were subjected to physical–chemical and microbiological analyses and to consumer testing. The results showed that the heat treatments caused longer coagulation times than those reported in the literature, despite pre-acidification (at pH 5.93 or 6.35) having been performed to counterbalance the expected worsening of the coagulation aptitude. The obtained products showed differences in the chemical composition, texture, proteolysis, and lipolysis. Both pasteurization and pre-acidification played a role in determining these variations. Consumer testing indicated that mozzarella obtained from milk heated at the lower temperature and coagulated at a higher pH reached a good level of appreciation (62%).
Highlights
Mozzarella belongs to the family of “pasta filata” cheeses and is one of the most produced cheeses worldwide, with a global production volume over 3,000,000 tons [1]
The volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the headspace of the cheeses were analyzed by Solid Phase Micro Extraction (SPME)–gas chromatography (GC) Mass Spectrometry as reported in a previous paper [30]
The chemical and microbiological characteristics of the two batches of raw milk used in the experimentation were almost the same
Summary
Mozzarella belongs to the family of “pasta filata” cheeses and is one of the most produced cheeses worldwide, with a global production volume over 3,000,000 tons [1]. Bovine milk has become the primary raw matter used, and the continuous increase in demand has pushed manufacturers towards industrialization and mechanization for reducing the production costs This has been achieved by means of new manufacturing protocols based on the application of coadjuvants and commercial starters for acidification and on the use of standardized milk deriving from livestock intensive farming systems [3]. The first technological scheme for manufacturing the cheese from sheep and goat milk has been reported, based on a combination of direct acidification and lactic fermentation [10]; more recently, Tripaldi et al [11] prepared sheep HMM by only lactic fermentation with two different types of selected starters Both investigations focused on technology and safety of the products and did not deal with the biochemical changes during storage nor with consumer acceptance. The obtained cheeses were characterized by physic–chemical and microbiological analyses and were subjected to consumer testing in order to evaluate acceptance
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