HU213167B - Process for the production of mozzarella cheese and pizza with mozzarella - Google Patents

Abstract

The maturation of the mozzarella cheese may be omitted, with a fat content of 1.5 to 3.5% by weight of starting material cow's milk is used and guided by known steps the water content of wet cheese is set at 50-60% by weight a total water content of at least 70% and a milk fat content by weight of wet cheese next to. Approximately 48 hours after pickling the cheese can be used or frozen. In the continuous process the hot, stretched cheese that comes from the kneading machine come, directly extruded into the cold saline solution. When the cheese has cooled down enough, it can be split and separated in a freezer, preferably in a fluidized bed freezer It can be frozen. Preferably during kneading salt is added to the cheese.

Description

The present invention relates to a process for making mozzarella cheese by pasteurizing cow's milk, lowering the pH of the milk, coagulating the obtained milk, slicing and drying the coagulum, heating, kneading and stretching the leftover milk, cooling the cold cheese in cold brine, removing the cold cheese from the brine.

In the dairy industry, and in particular in the cheese industry, for many years efforts have been made to reduce the time required for the production process while at the same time obtaining the desired characteristics of the cheese. The characteristics associated with mozzarella cheese are those that are important when these variants are used to make pizza. These include melting characteristics, blistering, melting, elongation and softening. Shortening or eliminating the aging process has significant economic benefits, which are closely linked to the cost of producing the cheese.

The production of mozzarella cheeses involves the following steps:

- pasteurize cow's milk with a fat content of 1.5 to 3.5% by weight (water buffalo milk is used in some countries);

- lowering the pH of the milk, preferably by fermentation with lactic acid to obtain inoculated milk;

- the coagulated milk is coagulated;

- they cut the coagulum and drain the whey, leaving the curd behind;

heating, kneading and stretching said curd until a homogeneous fibrous mass having a water content of 45 to 60% by weight and a milk fat content of at least 30% by weight is obtained;

- put the mass in cold saline and leave it there until it cools down and the salt enters

- removing the chilled cheese from the brine.

After being immersed in saline, the unripe mozzarella cheese is usually matured at about 1.7 to 7.2 ° C. 7 to 21 days to develop the desired flavor and texture as well as the appropriate baking characteristics. The maturation process is commonly referred to as storage or maturation. All important components of cheese, such as carbohydrates, protein, fat, change during maturation. As a result of several complex metabolic processes, such as enzymatic lipolysis and proteolysis, these major components are converted to lactic acid, peptide, amino acid and fatty acid.

After maturing, mozzarella cheese is often cut / shredded and frozen to stop the ripening process and then transported in chilled containers. It can also be frozen in block form, but this is rarely the case.

The baking characteristics of mozzarella cheese are very important. Most mozzarella cheeses are used to make pizza. This involves pouring tomato sauce and cheese on a pizza dough base and baking the resulting pizza in an oven at about 50 ° C. It is kept at 204538 ° C, often at 232-343 or 454'C. As is well known, other ingredients can be placed on top of the pizza, such as pepper slices, mushrooms, minced meat, sausage, pineapple pieces, etc. When the cheese is melted, the cheese components become liquid, which can result in water evaporation, oil release and blistering. It is desirable for the cheese to melt completely before the dough is over. It is undesirable for the cheese to form many large blisters when it melts. The blisters, which are formed by the action of the protein, burn easily and form a dark, hard surface which impairs the appearance, taste and unpleasant taste of the pizza. In order for the cheese to be satisfactory, it must melt with minimal blistering while the dough is baked.

If mozzarella cheese is not matured, it is prone to large blisters when used to make pizza. The higher the oven temperature, the greater the risk of blistering.

The maturation of mozzarella cheeses takes a lot of time, space and energy, all of which increase the cost of the finished product. The same applies to other types of cheese, to a greater or lesser extent. For this reason, there have been countless attempts to accelerate the maturation process of various types of cheese.

In 1953 Lederer describes that the maturation time of American cheddar cheese can be reduced by quickly freezing it while still green and then freezing it for 60 to 180 minutes, then transferring it to a standard maturing chamber at a temperature of 7, 2-15.6 'C. Good mass, texture, and flavor can be achieved after 9 days of maturation, as opposed to at least 6 weeks used in the conventional process (U.S. Patent No. 2,816,036).

In 1959, Freemann describes that maturation of cheddar cheese can be accelerated by using a mixed bacillus culture and a higher temperature (15.6 ° C) for the first four weeks (Kentucky Agricultural Experiment Station, U.K., Bulletin 666, 1959). June).

In 1967, Kristofferson teaches that the addition of reduced glutathione and porcine lipase to the cheese mass accelerates the maturation of the cheese by making a cheese paste [J. Diary Sci. Vol. 50, No. 3, 292297 (1967)].

In 1967, Signh describes that maturation of Cheddar cheese can be accelerated in the form of a thick suspension by the addition of sodium citrate, vitamin combinations and mineral salts [J. Diary Sci. Vol. 53, No. 5,533-536 (1969)].

According to Prochazka in 1971, sodium citrate must be added to mozzarella cheeses to reduce the ripening period by at least one third (CS patent 141 283).

In 1973, Sullivan describes that American cheese and Swiss cheese can be matured 2-5 times faster by adding adenosine-3.5 cyclic monophosphate to curd milk (U.S. Patent No. 3,859,446).

In 1975 Sutherland teaches that the time required for the maturation of cheddar cheese can be reduced by adjusting to various conditions, including oxygen in the upper space of the maturation tank (Australian J. of Dairy Tech., Vol. 30, 138-142 (1975)). ].

In 1977 Shehata teaches that if raw water2

Sodium citrate is added to buffalo milk to accelerate lipolysis and proteolysis in the RAS cheese made from it (Dairy Sci. Abstract, Vol. 41, No. 9, 550 (1979)).

In 1979, Lee suggested that a masticar esterase solution be injected into mozzarella cheese to shorten the maturation process (Lee, Hyong Joo, "Acceleration of Cheese Ripening: High Pressure Injection Components in ItalianType Cheese", Ph. D. Thesis, U. Wisconsin-Madison, 1979. Lee's thesis also contains a literature review on accelerating cheesemaking (see Chapters 2-45). He talks about the fact that the aging process, like most chemical reactions, can be accelerated at high temperatures, but in most cases, undesirable phenomena occur, resulting in an unattractive product.

In 1982, Abdel Baky reports experimental results which demonstrate that the addition of sodium citrate, proteinase and lipase to RAS dense cheese suspension can shorten the maturation process from two months to seven days [J. Dairy Research, Vol. 49, pp. 337-341 (1982)].

In 1987, Law writes that maturation of various cheeses can be accelerated by the addition of exogenous proteolytic enzymes (Elsevier Applied Science, New York, N. Y. 1987, Ed. P. F. Fox, vol. 1, ch. 10, 365-392). The addition of lipase or esterase has been a common practice in the production of Italian cheeses since 1950.

In 1988, Kielsmeyer, Barz, Allen teaches that mozzarella cheese can be sliced and frozen in a fluidized bed freezer before being boxed and transported. This process does not relate to the production of mozzarella but to the treatment of mozzarella once it has been prepared (U.S. Patent No. 4,753,815).

In 1982, Kielsmeyer teaches that hot, blended mozzarella cheese can be extruded in a continuous strip that is cold, e.g. They are introduced into a channel filled with saline at -15 ° C to -1 ° C. The saline and the cheese band flow together through the channel and the tape is removed mechanically and continuously. After removal, the tape is long, approx. It is cut into pieces of 25 m and the pieces are then soaked in additional brine, in a container, eg. 15-20 minutes in saturated brine at 7.2 ”C. When the soaking is complete, the cheese is smaller, e.g. They are cut into 18-30 cm pieces to make pre-sized packages containing, for example, 0.25-2.25 kg of cheese (U.S. Patent No. 4,339,468).

Considering the above, a certain degree of maturation is required for each solution.

We have discovered that mozzarella cheese having the desired characteristics can be produced by a process that eliminates the separate ripening step. The process according to the invention uses the usual steps used in the manufacture of mozzarella cheeses, but the ingredients and conditions are controlled so that the water content of the wet cheese extracted from the saline solution is at least 70% water and milk fat is 50% by weight of the wet cheese. weight%. Methods for controlling the water content and milk fat content of the cheese final product are known in the manufacture of mozzarella, for example the milk fat content can be controlled at the point where the excess fat in the milk is removed in a separator. This is done just before pasteurization. The water content can be controlled, for example, by controlling the amount of acid formation during fermentation by adjusting the cooking temperature and duration.

The mozzarella cheese on the market today most often has a water content of less than 70% by weight, for example 65-69.5% by weight, and a milk fat content by weight of wet cheese. Of course, these cheeses are ripened cheeses. Typical composition of the four most common types of cheese on the market is as follows:

Breed ¹ Víztartalom2 Fat Milk Tart. Wet base ³ Milk fat container FDB ⁴ . crowd% Mozzarella 52 or more 21.6 or more 45 or more Low-water mozzarella 46 24.8 46 Partly lean mozzarella 52.5 16.6 35 Low-water, partly lean mozzarella 50 18.25 36.5

^{1 according} to US law;

² kneaded + free water,% weight loss, if the cheese sample is dried overnight in a 200 ° C oven and the weight loss during drying is measured and calculated before and after drying;

³ % by weight of whole cheese;

⁴ 'dry fat content' means the percentage by weight of dry matter in cheese.

It has been found that the mozzarella cheese produced by the process of the invention can be used immediately to make satisfactory pizzas. There is no need for ripening, in fact it is not even desirable to ripen. Unripe cheese already has properties suitable for use in the preparation of baked goods. It can be frozen immediately and transported. It is believed that if the cheese is frozen, it will retain its good properties for at least 12 months.

The cheese must be used or frozen within 48 hours after it has been cured in brine. If this does not happen, the cheese will tend to burn and blister during baking unless it has been previously matured3

21 not leave it idle for at least 5 more days. In a highly preferred embodiment, the process of the present invention can be carried out continuously by chopping and freezing the cheese within two hours of curing it in brine.

The cheese can be made into loaves and frozen in this form, but is preferably sliced before freezing. If frozen as a loaf, the process can be completed within 36 hours from the pasteurization of the milk to the loading of the finished frozen boxed cheese on the truck. If the cheese is cut into cubes or pieces before freezing and frozen in an independent quick freeze, the whole process can be done in a shorter time from pasteurization to delivery, approx. In 8 hours. In contrast, the known processes also required 7 to 21 days to obtain the desired characteristics of the cheese.

The mozzarella cheese of the present invention can be used immediately by pizzerias without the need for shelf life. If independent rapid freezing was used, U.S. Pat. No. 4,753,815. According to the method described in the US patent, the cheese does not need to be thawed, but can be immediately placed in the oven in the frozen state. Under the special baking conditions nowadays used in the preparation of pizzas, the cheese of the present invention performs well on pizzas, or even better, than mozzarella cheese, which has a total water and milk fat content of less than 70% by weight. matured for the usual 7 to 21 days.

If mozzarella cheese is frozen and shipped immediately after pickling in brine, which has a total water content and milk fat content of less than 70% by weight of wet cheese, it must first be thawed and stored in a refrigerator for approx. 1,7-

7.2 ° C for 7 days or more before it can be used to make pizza so that it will be satisfactory under the usual baking conditions used for making pizza. Such cheese must either be matured for at least one week before being frozen or, if frozen directly, allowed to thaw and then matured for at least one week before being used for pizza preparation under normal conditions. Cheeses with an unripe water content of 70% by weight and milk fat content by weight of wet cheese may also have satisfactory melting properties under limited, atypical baking conditions, but we would like to obtain mozzarella cheese that can be used immediately by pizza makers under normal conditions. The process of the present invention produces such cheese even if it does not ripen.

The pizza making industry generally uses mozzarella cheese as one of the primary ingredients in pizza. The different types of pizzas, such as rolls, rolls, etc., as well as the type of oven used, significantly influence the melting characteristics of mozzarella cheese. In addition, the time and temperature used to bake a pizza also influences the appearance of the cheese. Thus, when baking mozzarella cheese on top of a pizza, the amount of energy required to achieve the desired melting properties depends on the baking conditions.

Melting characteristics such as blistering, melting and stretching are very important to the pizza maker because they are noticeable to the consumer and contribute to the pleasure of eating pizza. As mentioned above, it is generally accepted that mozzarella cheese, whatever its composition, requires 7 days or more of maturation to achieve such melting characteristics. The process of the invention eliminates this maturation or any other treatment and yet produces the same good melting properties as the cheese matured by the known methods.

Mozzarella cheese has three primary components that influence its melting characteristics. They are water content, milk fat and protein. These characteristics, individually or in combination, play a role in the melting of mozzarella cheese. Of the three, protein is, and more particularly, the complexity of the protein structure, which is primarily a limiting factor in the resulting final melting characteristics. Protein structure, much more than any other cheese component, requires the highest heat, ie caloric energy, to become liquid or melted when baked on top of pizza. When they become liquid, long, rope-like protein molecules must break down into fibers. This fiber breakdown occurs when the cheese is heated to 66-93 ° C. This temperature coincides with the temperature usually used for baking a pizza. The oven temperature is then 200-540 ° C. The desired melting properties are achieved only when the protein structure is broken down into such fibers.

It is known that temperature measures the average kinetic energy emitted by a medium, so that the temperature of a molten medium is a function of the amount of energy absorbed, the melting point of the medium, and the energy emitted. Thus, in order to obtain the temperature required to break down and melt the protein structure of the cheese, the cheese must absorb a certain amount of energy. When the melting is complete, energy is released and the temperature of the cheese increases more easily. When baking a pizza, other components of the pizza, such as pasta, sauce, etc. it requires additional energy to achieve the desired baking characteristics. The amount of energy available and transferable is limited depending on the type of pizza and the baking conditions (baking temperature and baking time). The pizza cannot be left in the oven for an extended period of time to allow the cheese to fry, as this will damage the dough or other ingredients.

Until now, it was believed that the energy available under the baking conditions commonly used in making pizza is not sufficient to render the protein structure of mozzarella cheese liquid if the cheese is not matured. Maturation partially destroys protein,

EN 213 167 Β protein degradation. Smaller protein units, peptides with a less complex structure, do not require too much energy to break down the fibers.

The secondary effect of maturation on the characteristics of mozzarella cheese is to balance the salt content in the cheese and convert the ratio of free water in the cheese to bound water. By "bound water" is meant water that is chemically or physically bound to the other components of cheese, the others being "free water." All these factors have an impact on the final melting properties of mozzarella cheese. Cheese on top of baked pizza is blistered by burning or drying of the protein present. Thus, when frying cheese on top of a pizza, the protein structure retains water when the cheese melts to prevent excessive blistering. However, if there is too much free water in the cheese, this water will evaporate during baking, leading to a high degree of blistering. On the other hand, cheeses that contain a large amount of bound water, which is usually accompanied by the ripening of the cheeses, are not prone to excessive blistering because this bound water will not evaporate and thus keep the protein structure moist.

In the process of the present invention, it is believed that excessive evaporation of free water can be prevented by the following factors:

- During the mixing and shaping, we add salt. The ability of the salt to "bind" the water, leaving some of the free water in the cheese, which would otherwise evaporate during cooking.

- By providing the water and milk fat content of the cheese with a high enough heat capacity, the protein and the milk fat quickly become liquid during baking by retaining the free water in the cheese before it is steamed.

It has also been found that the mozzarella cheese prepared by the process of the invention can be stored for 48 hours after cooling in saline before being sliced and packaged to retain the desired good properties. The preferred time to cut is within 2 hours after curing in brine. This optimizes the properties of the cheese, while at the same time making the process continuous. If the cheese is not frozen for 48 hours, it may become too soft to cut into pieces of cheese. This is particularly the case when the water content of the cheese is between 52 and 60% by weight and the milk fat content between 20 and 30% by weight of the wet cheese.

It has also been found that the product stored for 48 hours without freezing must undergo conventional maturation, usually for 7-21 days, to achieve the desired melting characteristics.

Without wishing to be bound by this theory, we believe that the relationship between water content and protein status is such that the desired melting characteristics are achieved within the first 48 hours after curing in brine, but there is a shift in this after this time. so that the desired melting values are achieved only if the cheese is matured for one or more weeks. The desired properties of the unripened cheese can be maintained or preserved by freezing it within 48 hours. Both slow and quick freeze can be used. Preferably, the cheese is approx. Cool to 4 'C or lower.

For making pizzas, the cheese of the present invention can be sprinkled with tomato sauce or other ingredients on top of the pizza dough, frozen or non-frozen. The pasta can be raw pasta, semi-baked pasta or fully baked pasta. The cheese can usually be thawed 14 days before it is placed in the oven. As mentioned above, you do not need to thaw well before baking. It also behaves very well when defrosted just one or two days before baking. If cheese is covered by No. 4,753,815 Freezing according to the process described in U.S. Patent No. 5,400,125, it can be placed in the oven without prior defrosting and yet has the desired properties.

In the process of the invention, the conditions are generally controlled such that the water content of the cheese is between 5060% by weight and the milk fat content by weight is between 16-30% by weight of the wet cheese. The preferred composition, wherein the mozzarella cheese is maintained in the process of the invention, is at least 52% water by weight and at least 18% milk fat by weight based on wet cheese.

As mentioned above, one of the purposes of maturation is to allow diffusion of the salt (sodium chloride) from the outer shell to the inside of the mozzarella loaf and thus equalize the salt content in the cheese. Since the process according to the invention does not mature, it is desirable to mix 0.5-1.5% by weight of the salt in the fresh curds, then heat, knead and stretch. Preferably at least 0.8% by weight of salt is added.

After the milk curd was heated, kneaded and stretched to obtain a homogeneous fibrous mass, it was marinated in brine. The temperature of the cheese mass is usually 51.5-68.5 'C when ready for pickling. The hot mass can be introduced directly into the pickling container or hand molded into loafs (89 mm x 177.8 mm x 558.8 mm) and then cooled in cold water. When hand-formed, the cheese mass is placed in stainless steel molds, which are cold, approx. 1.7-10.0C water was introduced in ca. 20-30 minutes. This cools the cheese enough to keep it in shape. It is then removed from the mold and placed in saline at a temperature of 1.7 to 12.8 'C and a concentration of 18 to 35 g / L.

Manual molding would be labor intensive and it would be desirable for the extruded cheese strip of hot fibrous material to enter directly into the brine. The strip is approx. 15.24-20.32 cm wide and 7.62-10.16 cm thick. The brine has a temperature of -17.8 'C to -3.9' C and a concentration of 1121.5 g / l. The cheese cools rapidly in the brine so it freezes very quickly. If it does not freeze properly before cutting the strip, the cheesecloth will become prone to deformation and lose

EN 213 167 Β. The cheese strip will freeze properly when the temperature of the kernel is approx. 49 'C or less, i.e. 32.4-43' C. You usually do not need to be in the saline solution for more than 10 minutes. The extruded cheese strip can be cut into pieces 50-66 cm long after it has frozen in the brine. The cheese blocks can then be further cooled in brine at a temperature of 1.7 to 12.8 'C and a concentration of 18 to 35 g / L.

Whether extruded and sliced or hand-molded, the large chunks of cheese are preferably left in the brine container until the core temperature reaches about 10 ° C. 24'C or below, preferably 13-24'C. When extruding and two-step brine curing is used, the cheese will be cured for approx. Cool within 3 hours to a core temperature of 24 'C or below.

It has been found that a core temperature of 24 ° C or less is desirable for breaking up the salted cheese clumps into granules. Temperatures greater than 24 ° C often result in cheese with free moisture and liquid milk fat. When cut, these ingredients are not completely retained in the cheese particles. In addition, cheeses above 24 'C tend to adhere to the means used to cut the cheese. The time required to cool the cheese below 24 ° C can be reduced by reducing the thickness of the cheese and / or the temperature of the brine used.

For pizza topping, the cheese is preferably minced to a size such that the center or core of each piece is no further than 3.17 mm, preferably 1.58 mm, from the surface.

Preferably, the final cheese pieces are subjected to a quick freeze immediately after the cutting. Freezing is preferably carried out in a fluidized bed freezer using cold air having a temperature of -29 'C to 40' C.

The amount of cheese present in the freezer is small enough for each piece of cheese to cool to a core temperature of -23 ° C within no more than 5-7 minutes after entering the freezer. Preferably, the cheese pieces are finally frozen to a core temperature below 23 ° C, e.g. -23 'C to -31,5' C before removing them from the freezer.

When the frozen cheese pieces leave the freezer, they may be coated, if necessary, with a flavoring agent and / or one or more other chemicals such as emulsifiers such as sodium citrate and / or surfactants such as dimethylpolysiloxane.

The most preferred way of applying these flavors, emulsifiers, or surfactants is to spray them in an aqueous solution or emulsion onto the frozen cheese pieces so that they are uniformly coated.

The various additives may be applied together or separately from solutions. The concentration of the solution and the extent of the coating can be adjusted by using 102000 ppm of flavoring agent, 10-2500 ppm of emulsifier and 1 to 10 ppm of surfactant, each based on the weight of the cheese and the cheese being about. 0.5-4% water. The cheese and the water must be cold enough for the spray to form an almost icy casing on the cheese pieces.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a process for making mozzarella cheese

(a) pasteurizing cow's milk,

b) lowering the pH of the milk,

c) coagulating the resulting milk,

d) slicing the coagulum and drying the whey,

e) heating, kneading and stretching the residual curd,

f) cooling the hot cheese in cold brine,

g) removing the cold cheese from the brine by pasteurizing milk with a fat content of from 1.5 to 3.5% by weight, and in the known steps b) to f) with a total water content of at least 70% by weight and a milk cheese content by weight of wet cheese. adjusting the water content of the wet cheese to 50-60% by weight and then freezing it, if desired, within 48 hours after removal from the brine.

It is preferable to lower the pH of the milk by lactic fermentation and heat the curd to 51-69 ° C.

Another preferred solution is to mix 0.8-1.5% by weight of sodium chloride in the curd milk, based on the weight of the curd milk. During the heating, kneading and stretching of the curd milk, 0.5 to 1.5% by weight of sodium chloride, based on the weight of the curd milk, is mixed.

It is also advantageous to heat the curd to 5169 ° C, then cooling the immature mozzarella cheese in cold brine to a core temperature of 13-24 ° C and, if desired, chopping the cheeses and then freezing them. During the chilling, the hot cheese is first cooled to or below 38 ° C in a first sodium chloride solution of 10.7-21.4 g / l and at -18 to -4 ° C, and then partially cooled. the cheese is further cooled to a core temperature of at least 24 ° C in a second sodium chloride solution of 18-35 g / l and 2-13 ° C and frozen within 2 hours of removal from the brine.

Preferably, the hot cheese is cooled to 24 ° C or below in cold brine and the chilled cheese is chopped and frozen within 48 hours after removal from the brine.

Preferably, the cheese is extruded as a continuous strip before cooling, cooled in a first saline solution of 10.7-21.4 g / l and -18 'C and -4' C, cut into strips and cut into 18-35 soaked in a second saline solution at a concentration of g / l and 2-13 ° C. The cheese pieces are kept in the second saline solution until the core temperature reaches 13-24 ° C. The cheeses of the chilled cheese taken from the brine are quick frozen within 2 hours of the second brine being removed.

Another aspect of the present invention is a process for making a baked pizza comprising sprinkling tomato sauce and sliced mozzarella cheese on the pizza dough base, with or without other additives, and then baking the coated dough in an oven at 204-538 ° C. The pizza dough base according to claim 1

Sprinkle the cheese produced. The cheese is frozen or thawed within 14 days before the coated dough is placed in the oven.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The invention will be described in more detail with reference to the drawings, which illustrate an exemplary embodiment of the process of the invention. The

Figure 1 is a schematic top view of a production line. THE

Figure 2 shows a pizza baked with mozzarella which is not sufficiently matured. THE

Figure 3 shows a pizza baked with mozzarella matured in the usual way. THE

Figure 4 shows a pizza made with unripened mozzarella according to the invention. The

Figure 5 shows the water content of wet cheese versus milk fat content plotted versus heat capacity as a function of wet cheese weight. THE

Figure 6 is a graph showing the water content in wet cheese and the fat content of milk in the weight of wet cheese as a function of melting.

Example 1

Inoculated milk for lean mozzarella cheese was prepared according to U.S. Pat. No. 3,961,077. A patent for a one-day storage system for curd milk. The starter culture contained lactic acid bacteria and Streptococcus microorganisms and the inoculated milk was coagulated with the addition of calf milk inoculum. The composition of the curd milk was checked to obtain a final cheese product having a water content of more than 52% by weight and a milk fat content of more than 18% by weight, such that the total water / wet cheese weight was greater than 70% by weight.

The inoculated milk was stored for one day, after which the fermentation was completed. Figure 1 shows a schematic diagram of the process starting from this point. As shown in Fig. 1, fermented curd milk (not shown) is heated to 60 ° C in a mixer / former 10, then kneaded and stretched with the addition of 1.5% salt (sodium chloride). After stirring for 7 minutes, the melted cheese is extruded into the container 11 in the form of a continuous strip 12 of 101.6 mm thick and 177.8 mm wide, as described in U.S. Pat. patent. The extruded strip 12 goes directly into the sodium chloride solution at a temperature of -12.2 'C and a concentration of 21.4 g / l. The residence time of the strip 12 in the saline solution is 8 minutes, after which the strip 12 is removed from the all container and cut with the help of the cutter 13 into pieces 508 mm long. The temperature of the kernel during cutting is 49 'C. The chilled, salted 101.6 x 177.8 x 508 mm pieces are then floated in 15 main tanks of saline for three hours. The saline solution has a temperature of 7.2 'C and a concentration of 34 g / l in the 15 main tanks of the brine. The temperature of the cheese kernel when removed from the 15 main tanks of the brine

18.3 C.

The cooled lean mozzarella cheese is then transported by the conveyor 16 to the risk 17, where the cheese is directly cut into blocks 50.8x50.8x76.2 mm 18 which are fed to the shredder 19 where the blocks 18 are 3.17x3.17x3.17 mm cut into 20 cubes. The cubes 20 are immediately delivered to the freezer 21, which is a fluidized bed freezer such as the one described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,753,815. U.S. Pat. After freezing, the temperature of the core of cheese 22 was -29 ° C. The cheese 22 is then packaged and stored at -17,8 ° C in a freezer (not shown) for further sale.

As a control, lean mozzarella cheese was prepared which was not adjusted to have a water content and a milk fat content of more than 70% by weight of wet cheese, and was cut, frozen and packaged by the same procedure. This cheese is hereinafter referred to as control cheese 1A. A portion of this unmade skimmed mozzarella cheese was not cut immediately after chilling, but instead wrapped, placed in the refrigerator and kept at 3.3 ° C for 9 days, then sliced, frozen and packaged and - We kept it at 17.8 ° C until further sale. This cheese is hereinafter referred to as "control cheese 1B".

The product of the invention and the two control cheeses ΙΑ, 1B were then placed in a common refrigerator at a temperature of 3,3 ° C until all three products reached a steady state temperature of 3,3 ° C. When this was achieved, each product was evaluated for composition, heat capacity, and melting phenomenon. The results are shown in the following table:

/. spreadsheet

Invention of 1A control cheese 1B control cheese water content 53.5% 52.1% 52.1% Wet milk fat. 18.5% 17,5% 17,5% Full water and wet milk fat 72.0% 69.6% 69.6% appreciable heat capacity J / g -809.9 -593 -492

The perceived heat capacity of the cheeses, sometimes referred to as the thermal index, was measured by a differential scanning calorimeter. The values refer to the amount of energy, in Joules, required to make 1 g of cheese melt completely when heated from room temperature to 21 ° C as the initial temperature. Presumably this energy is absorbed before the cheese changes phase, so this is taken as a negative value. The lower this number is, the more negative it is, the higher the apparent heat capacity of the cheese.

As shown in Table I, the cheese produced by the process of the present invention has a higher heat capacity

EN 213 167 Β as the other two control cheeses. Frequently, the conditions and ingredients used to make the cheese produced by the process of the invention result in cheese having a heat capacity of -675 J / g or less.

The melting properties of the three products were determined by baking 311.84 g of cheese in a Middleby Marshall 360S oven for 6.5 minutes at 277C.

330.2mm diameter pizza, which contained 311.84g of uncooked dough and 113.398g of tomato sauce This is the time and temperature commonly used to bake a pizza of this size consisting of this special dough and tomato sauce. After baking, each finished pizza was photographed and the baked cheese evaluated for size and percentage of blisters, melting, elongation, and softness. These photographs are shown in Figures 24. We have the following comments regarding the products we receive on these:

Control cheese 1A with less than 70% total water and milk fat and not matured is shown in Figure 2. Strong bubble formation is observed and the size of the bubbles is small to large. The surface of the products is very dry, it seems that milk fat is not present at all. This has an unacceptable melting property.

Control cheese 1B having a combined water and milk fat content of less than 70% matured for 9 days is shown in Figure 3. Here, blistering is smaller than in control cheese 1A and only small, pointy blisters are formed. The surface of the pizza is moist and milk fat is noticeably present. This is an acceptable melting phenomenon that can be expected for lean mozzarella cheese matured for 9 days at 3,3 'C,

The cheese produced by the process of the present invention is shown in Figure 4, which shows only a very small amount of bladder formation, all of which are punctate blisters. The surface of the products is moist and the presence of milk fat is obvious. The melting phenomenon is similar to that found in control cheese 1B. This cheese and the control cheese 1B are comparable and acceptable in terms of taste, elongation, and palatability.

Example 2

More cheeses were made by the same procedure as in Example 1 but with varying water content and milk fat level. A total of 19 heaps were prepared with a water content and a milk fat content of 68.2% to 77.48% by weight of wet cheese. None of the cheeses were matured and cubed into 3.17x3.17x3.17 mm cubes and frozen at 4,753,815 cubes. US patent immediately after leaving the second saline reservoir.

The heat capacity of each cheese was measured as described in Example 1. The melting phenomenon was also measured by using one cheese sample to make a 330.2 mm diameter pizza under the conditions described in Example 1. Each cheese was graded according to the following scale:

Melting behavior category events 1-2 Slight blistering (about 10-25% of the surface) 2-3 Medium blistering (about 25-50% of the surface) 3-4 High blistering (about 5570% of the surface)

Point scores were given in half-degree increments. Scoring was done blind, that is, without the scorer knowing which cheese we were using. The result is shown in Table II. Table. The cheeses are listed in the table according to their heat capacity, in descending order, except for the matured control cheeses, which are the last to be listed.

II. spreadsheet

item Number It takes water. (%) Butterfat (%) Altogether (%) Hőkapa- Citas (J / g) Melting category 209 122 52.26 24.0 76.26 -1,455.7 2.0 109 122 53.98 23.5 77.48 -1,328.8 1.5 109 131 54.57 20.25 74.87 -932.1 2.0 209 312 53.72 16.5 70.22 -867.1 2.0 109 702 53.56 18.5 72.06 -809.9 2.0 109 312 52.96 16.0 68.96 -761.5 3.0 109 031 52.75 16.75 69.50 -661.3 2.5 1987221 53.97 15.0 68.97 -609.1 2.5 209 031 53.42 16.25 69.67 -597.2 2.0 209 301 52.08 17.5 69.58 -593.4 2.5 109 111 50.2 24.0 74.02 -573.8 1.0 109 602 52.96 17.0 69.96 -570.1 2.5 2987221 54.39 16.25 70.64 -516.3 2.0 209 702 52.7 19.0 71.1 -463.6 3.0 209 011 48.7 19.5 68.2 -379 3.5 209 111 49.1 23.3 72.4 -328.8 1.0 109 011 48.8 19.5 68.3 -322.2 3.5 209 602 54.05 15.5 69.55 -284.2 2.5 Inspector- Zo (Item 10931, matured 9 days) 52.1 17.5 69.6 -492 2.0

As shown in Π. Table 9 shows that nine of the cheeses had a water content in the wet cheese and a milk fat content of 70% or more by weight of the wet cheese, nine less than 70%, and the nineteenth was a control cheese matured in the usual way. All but one of the nine cheeses above 70 %8

EN 213 167 had good melting rates of 1-2. However, of the nine heaps below 70%, only one had a melting phenomenon between 1 and 2, five had an unacceptable 2.5, one of them three and two of them an extremely bad 3.5.

The data obtained according to Table 2 is plotted in Figure 5, which shows the water content in the wet cheese and the milk fat content in the wet cheese as a function of the heat capacity. Data were subjected to regression analysis. This showed a correlation coefficient of 0.84. The higher the water content and the milk fat content, the higher the heat capacity of the cheese. This is considered by biostats to show a good correlation.

The data in Table 2 were also used to draw the graph of Figure 6, which depicts the water content of the wet cheese and the percentage of milk fat in the wet cheese, as a function of the melting phenomenon. Melting phenomena between 1 and 2 are acceptable, 2.5 or greater are unacceptable blistering. As mentioned above, with the exception of a single product, melting degrees 1-2 were achieved when the water content of the wet cheese and the milk fat content of the wet cheese is equal to or greater than 70% by weight. At a lower percentage, all but one of the products had unacceptable melting properties because of a melting number greater than 2.

Claims (15)

PATENT CLAIMS A process for the production of mozzarella cheese comprising: (a) pasteurizing cow's milk, b) lowering the pH of the milk, c) coagulating the resulting milk, d) slicing the coagulum and drying the whey, e) heating, collecting and serving the residual curd, f) cooling the hot cheese in cold brine, g) removing the cold cheese from the brine, characterized by pasteurizing cow's milk having a fat content of 1.5 to 3.5% by weight and, in the known steps b) to f), with a total water content of at least 70% by weight and adjusting the water content of the wet cheese to 50-60% by weight and then freezing the cheese, if desired, within 48 hours of its removal from the brine. A process according to claim 1, wherein the pH of the milk is reduced by lactic fermentation. 3. The process of claim 1, wherein the curd is heated to 51-69 ° C. The process according to claim 3, characterized in that between 0.8 and 1.5% by weight of sodium chloride is added to the curd milk, based on the weight of the curd milk. 5. A process according to claim 1, characterized in that during the heating, kneading and stretching of the curd milk, 0.5 to 1.5% by weight of sodium chloride is mixed with the curd milk. 6. The process according to claim 1, wherein the curd is heated to a temperature of 51-69 ° C, followed by cooling the immature mozzarella cheese in cold brine to a core temperature of 13 ° C to 24 ° C and, if desired, slicing the chilled cheese. frozen. 7. A process according to claim 1, wherein the hot cheese is first cooled in a first sodium chloride solution having a concentration of 10.7-21.4 g / l and a temperature of -18 ° C and -4 ° C. Partially cooled to or below 0 ° C, then the partially cooled cheese is further cooled to a core temperature of at least 24 ° C in a second sodium chloride solution of 18-35 g / l and 2-13 ° C. . 8. The method of claim 1, wherein the chilled cheese is frozen within 2 hours of removal from the brine. 9. The process of claim 1, wherein the hot cheese is cooled to or below a core temperature of 24 ° C in cold brine and the chilled cheese is minced and frozen within 48 hours after removal from the brine. A process according to claim 1, characterized in that the cheese is extruded as a continuous strip before cooling, cooled in a first saline solution having a concentration of 10.7-21.4 g / l and a temperature of -18'C and -4'C. and soaked in a second saline solution of 18-35 g / l and 2-13 ° C. The method of claim 10, wherein the cheese pieces are maintained in the second saline solution until the core temperature reaches 13-24'C. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that the cheeses of the chilled cheese taken from the brine are comminuted and separately frozen. Method according to claims 7 and 10, characterized in that the pieces of chilled cheese are quick frozen within 2 hours after removal from the second saline solution. 14. A method of making a baked pizza comprising sprinkling tomato sauce and sliced mozzarella cheese on a pizza dough base, with or without other additives, and then baking the coated dough in an oven at a temperature of 204-538 ° C. sprinkling the cheese made according to claim 1 on a pizza dough base. Process according to claim 14, characterized in that the cheese is frozen or thawed within 14 days before the cheese-coated dough is placed in the oven.