Effects of Different Manufacturing Methods on Yield, Physicochemical and Sensory Properties of Mozzarella Cheese

The effect of different mozzarella cheese manufacturing methods, i.e. direct acidification (DA), starter culture (SC) and their combination method (CM) on physicochemical, yield, texture, color and sensory properties of the product were compared. Chemical analyses of samples revealed that the SC cheese had higher fat, moisture, ash, titratable acidity, actual and adjusted yields and fat recovery than DA cheese. DA cheese showed higher springiness, cohesiveness, and hardness than CM and SC cheeses, due to denser and elastic protein network, whereas meltability and adhesiveness of DA cheese was lower than CM and SC samples. SC cheese had significantly higher b-value than DA sample. The sensory evaluation revealed that the SC cheese had higher sensory quality than other cheeses in fresh state and during 45 days of storage. In general, sensory scores of all mozzarella cheeses were acceptable up to 15th day of storage and thereafter decreased progressively till the end of storage period.