Abstract:
Mozzarella, a soft un-ripened variety of cheese originated in Italy belongs to pasta-filata or
stretched group of cheeses and has shown a remarkable growth in production over the last
century. The yield and the desirable properties of mozzarella depend on a number of factors
including type of milk and pre-acidification method of cheese milk. A 3×3 factorial arrangement
of treatments in a completely randomized design was used to find out the combined effect of milk
source {cow (CM), buffalo (BM) and mixed (CM:BM 1:1 ratio)} and the method of pre-acidification
{starter culture (SC): Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus
1:1 ratio, acetic acid (AA) and citric acid (CA)} of cheese milk on yield, meltability and instrumental
colour of mozzarella cheese. Cheese made using BM and pre-acidified with SC served as the
control. Main effects of milk source and method of pre-acidification showed a significant (p<0.05)
effect on yield of cheese whereas interaction effect was not significant (p>0.05). The yield of
cheese made from BM (13.97±0.78%) was observed to be higher than that of the cheese made
from CM (8.88±0.52%) as well as mixed milk (9.96±0.54%). Further, cheese milk pre-acidified
using CA and AA showed a higher cheese yield (11.26±2.27 and11.41±2.43%, respectively),
compared to that of the cheese milk pre-acidified with SC (10.15±2.18%). A significant (p<0.05)
interaction effect between milk source and method of pre-acidification of cheese milk was
observed for meltability and b* value (variation from yellow to blue colour) of the resultant
cheese. Meltability was superior in mozzarella cheese manufactured from CM pre-acidified using
CA (9.13±0.28 cm) compared to the control (4.03±0.05 cm). Cheese made using CM pre-acidified
with CA and AA showed significantly (p<0.05) higher b* values (22.99±1.46 and 20.19±2.80,
respectively) compared to the control (14.98±1.37). Therefore, the milk source and the method
of pre-acidification of cheese milk are closely linked to the yield, meltability and colour of
mozzarella cheese and hence, careful selection of raw materials and manipulation of processing
conditions are required to get an optimum quality end product.
