INTERACTIONS BETWEEN CULTURES, COAGULANTS AND TECHNOLOGY TO INCREASE CHEESE YIELDS

Abstract

The present invention relates to a process for making low-moisture mozzarella cheese using recent developments in the technical knowledge about the interactions between cultures, coagulants and cheese technology to increase cheese yields and maintain the cheese quality and functionalities. An optimization may lead to a higher pH and higher dry matter of the curd at the whey off step i.e. pH higher than 6.3 and ideally higher than 6.4 and solid non-fact content higher than 18%, without any modification of the curd composition at the stretching step, i.e. pH between 5.0 and 5.3 and more precisely between without any modification of the curd composition at the stretching step, i.e. pH between 5.0 and 5.3 and more precisely between 5.05 and 5.25, Ca/SNF between 1.7% and 2.4% and more precisely between 1.7 and 2.2%, dry matter between 53% and 55% and more precisely between 53.5% and 54.5%. The coagulant has a C/P ratio of at least 25. This optimization may also lead to a reduction in the processing time in the cheese vat (near 15%), so a real increase in the through-put and profitability of the cheese vats.

Claims

1. A process for making a low moisture mozzarella cheese (LMMC), the process comprising the following steps: A) adding to milk, a starter culture and optionally calcium, to obtain a composition B) adding one or more coagulants to the composition of step A C) renneting the composition of step B for between 5 minutes and 25 minutes to obtain a renneted firmness D) cutting the renneted composition of step C E) stirring and scalding the composition of step D while heating the composition to around 41 C. F) optionally stirring the composition G) removing the whey part to obtain a curd, and H) performing required steps to obtain a low moisture mozzarella cheese, wherein the one or more coagulants are added no later than 10 minutes, preferably 5 minutes, after addition of the starter culture, wherein pH is at least 6.3, preferably between 6.35 and 6.45, before removing the whey in step G, and wherein the one or more coagulants have a C/P ratio of at least 25.

2. The process according to claim 1, wherein the required steps to obtain a low moisture mozzarella cheese (LMMC) in step H comprises one or more of the following steps: I) reticulating the curd of step G J) cutting the curd of step H K) optionally reticulating the curd L) milling the curd M) salting the curd and/or N) stretching the curd.

3. The process according to claim 1 or 2, where the starter culture is added in step A in an amount from 7.5 g to 15 g per 100 liters of milk.

4. The process according to any of claims 1-3, wherein the starter culture is added as frozen or freeze-dried pellets, preferably as a direct vat set (DVS) culture.

5. The process according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the starter culture comprises at least one protease positive Streptococcus thermophilus strain and optionally at least one Lactobacillus bulgaricus and/or Lactobacillus helveticus strain.

6. The process according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the coagulant is a chymosin, preferably a camel chymosin or a chymosin derived from camel or bovine origin, and/or wherein the coagulant is a genetically modified chymosin, such as e.g. a genetically modified variant derived from a parent polypeptide of camel or bovine origin.

7. The process according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the coagulant has a P ratio of at least 30, or preferably the coagulant has a C/P ratio of at least 35, or even more preferably the coagulant has a C/P ratio of at least 40.

8. The process according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the coagulant is added in an amount of 3740 to 5780 IMCU per 100 kg of milk, or preferably 4000 to 5000 IMCU per 100 kg of milk, or more preferably 4080 IMCU per 100 kg of milk.

9. The process according to any of the preceding claims, wherein pH is at least 6.6 in step C, preferably between 6.6 to 6.65.

10. The process according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the rennet is added in an amount of 3600 to 4800 IMCU per 100 kg of milk.

11. The process according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the low moisture mozzarella cheese has a moisture content of 48% to 50% measured no later than 24 hours after cutting the renneted composition in step D and/or wherein the low moisture mozzarella cheese has a dry matter content of 50% to 52% measured no later than 24 hours after cutting the renneted composition in step D and/or wherein the low moisture mozzarella cheese has a fat per dry matter ratio of 0.40 to 0.55 measured no later than 24 hours after cutting the renneted composition in step D.

12. A low moisture mozzarella cheese obtained by the process of any of the preceding claims.

13. The cheese according to claim 12, with a stretchability of at least 1000 after 30 days, preferably at least 1200 after 30 days, or with a stretchability of at least 1000 after 60 days, preferably at least 1200 after 60 days.

14. The cheese according to any of claims 12 to 13, with a ratio between soluble nitrogen and total nitrogen (SN/TN) of at least 3.7 eight day after production, 4.7 thirty days after production, or 7.2 sixty days after production.

15. The cheese according to any of claims 12 to 14, wherein the cheese has a moisture content of 48% to 50% measured no later than 24 hours after cutting the renneted composition in step D and/or wherein the low moisture mozzarella cheese has a dry matter content of 50% to 52% measured no later than 24 hours after cutting the renneted composition in step D and/or wherein the low moisture mozzarella cheese has a fat per dry matter ratio of 0.40 to 0.55 measured no later than 24 hours after cutting the renneted composition in step D.

Description

DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

[0077] FIG. 1: Flow chart to produce low moisture mozzarella cheese (LMMC) using starter culture. This FIG. 1 represents in a schematic way the various steps used during the manufacture of mozzarella at industrial scale.

[0078] FIG. 2: Flow diagram for the production of LMMC described in literature using starter culture This FIG. 2 shows the time line and temperature profile of the various steps used during the manufacture of mozzarella with some technical parameters i.e. culture dosage, coagulant dosage, time of each step.

[0079] FIG. 3: Mineralization level according to acidification. This FIG. 3 is a graph showing the evolution of pH and level of mineralization (expressed as the ratio of calcium to solid non-fat) as a function of time, in order to produce a curd ready for stretching. This graph shows that the optimal window to obtain a good curd stretching ability is narrow (grey area).

[0080] FIG. 4: Relative importance of draining and acidification rates during cheesemaking (Standard Mozzarella-LMMC and optimized process). This FIG. 4 is a graph showing the acidification and draining pathways of the curd during mozzarella cheese making between pre-maturing and stretching steps, for a standard and optimized process. This graph shows than the first critical point (at whey off) with the optimized process (in grey) does not present the same characteristics as the standard process (in black) but that the second critical points (at stretching) are similar. The horizontal axis represents the syneresis or drainage of the curd, expressed by the percentage of solid non-fat.

[0081] FIG. 5: New flow chart for Mozzarella. This FIG. 5 shows the time line and temperature profile of the various steps used during the optimized process to produce mozzarella. This figure shows also the time difference between both process (conventional and optimized process).

[0082] FIG. 6: SN/TN (%) during storage time of mozzarella cheese produced with Hannilase and CHY-MAX-M. This graph shows the evolution of primary proteolysis (soluble nitrogen/total nitrogen content) calculated from Kjeldahl analysis of mozzarella produced with the conventional process.

EXAMPLES

[0083] All examples were performed in triplicate to increase the robustness of the data.

Example 1Conventional Cheesemaking Microbial Coagulant, Low C/P Ratio (Hannilase)

[0084] This first example is a conventional mozzarella cheesemaking according to the literature and industrial recipes were used (flow charts described in FIGS. 1 and 2). For this first example, the starter culture used was STi06 from Chr-Hansen (Denmark) and the coagulant was Hannilase XP200 from Chr-Hansen (Denmark). This coagulant has a C/P ratio of 6.5. The culture dosage was 6.7 g/100 kg of milk and the coagulant dosage was 3400 IMCU per 100 kg of milk. The milk composition is shown in tab 1.

[0085] The hot maturation step was 60 min and the firmness at cutting was monitored by the Hansen-CHYMOGRAPH, the firmness index at cutting was 6.5.

[0086] After cutting, the curd was pre-stirred for 10 minutes before scalding at 41 C. The scalding took 30 min and after the curd was stirred for 20 min before the whey off step, so 60 min in total between cutting and whey off. The pH of the curd at whey-off was between 6.20 and 6.30 and the solid non-fat content was equal to 17.5% (0.6), Tab 1. After, the curd was formed into blocks and turned 3 times before milling. The pH at milling was 5.15 (0.02). After the milling, the curd was salted with dry salt before stretching and cheese cooling.

[0087] At day 1, a cheese sample was analyzed for composition to determine the moisture adjusted cheese yield and the recovery coefficients (fat and protein).

[0088] With this example 1, the moisture adjusted cheese yield was 10.47 (0.01) kg of cheese per 100 kg of milk, the fat recovery was 86.8% (0.7), and the protein recovery was 75.9% (0.6). The protein losses in the whey (whey at whey off and whey before stretching) are shown in tab 2.

[0089] After 30 and 60 days of storage (at 4 C.), the functional properties (meltability and stretchability) were measured. Indices of proteolysis were measured at 8, 30 and 60 days (total soluble nitrogen/total nitrogen). The values are reported in tab 3 and FIG. 6.

[0090] The total make time for example 1 (from culture addition to stretching was 3 h 34 min), as shown in tab 4.

Example 2Conventional Cheesemaking FPC Coagulant High C/P Ratio (CHY-MAX M)

[0091] This second example is also a conventional mozzarella cheesemaking as in example 1, but with a different coagulant: CHY-MAX-M. This Coagulant has a higher C/P ratio, i.e. 40 versus 6.5 for Hannilase XP. For this second example, the starter culture used was the same as in example 1, i.e. STi06 from Chr-Hansen (Denmark) added at 6.7 g/100 kg of milk. The CHY-MAX-M dosage was 3400 IMCU per 100 kg of milk. The milk composition was exactly the same as in example 1 (tab 1).

[0092] The hot maturation step was 60 min and the firmness at cutting was monitored by the Hansen-CHYMOGRAPH, the firmness index at cutting was 6.5. This firmness index was obtained 7 min faster than with Hannilase XP, due to the specificity of this coagulant.

[0093] The other cheesemaking parameters were identical to those used in example 1 (Tab 4).

[0094] The pH of the curd at whey-off was between 6.30 and 6.20 and the solid non-fat content was equal to 17.6% (0.5), Tab 1.

[0095] In this example 2, the moisture adjusted cheese yield was 10.53 kg of cheese per 100 kg of milk, the fat recovery was 87.7% (0.6), and the protein recovery was 76.8% (0.7).

[0096] The protein losses in the whey (whey at whey off and whey before stretching) are shown in tab 2. CHY-MAX M resulted in lower protein losses in the whey.

[0097] This example 2 shows that with the use of a coagulant having a higher C/P ratio, in the conventional process that it is possible to increase the moisture adjusted cheese yield by about 0.6% in comparison to Hannilase XP.

[0098] After 30 and 60 days of storage (at 4 C.), the functional properties (meltability and stretchability) were measured. Indices of proteolysis were measured at 8, 30 and 60 days (total soluble nitrogen/total nitrogen). The values are reported in tab 3 and FIG. 6.

[0099] The graph shows that the use of CHY-MAX M (coagulant with a higher C.P. ratio) leads to lower levels of protein breakdown in comparison to that obtained when Hannilase XP is used without any significant difference in the meltability and stretchability obtained at days +30 and +60.

[0100] The total make time for example 2 (from culture addition to stretching was 3 h 28 min) was close to example 1, as shown in tab 4.

Example 3Optimized Process with a Microbial Coagulant Having a Low C/P Ratio

[0101] This example 3 uses an optimized process, i.e. same culture with higher dosage (than examples 1 and 2), higher dosage of coagulant than examples 1 and 2 (4080 IMCU/100 kg of milk versus 3400 for examples 1 and 2) and only 5 min for the hot maturation step versus 60 min in examples 1 and 2. The milk composition was close to examples 1 and 2 (tab 1). Only the pH at renneting was higher in order to optimize the acidification versus syneresis rates (6.65 to 6.60 versus 6.60 to 6.55).

[0102] This example 3 used the same coagulant as in example 1, i.e. Hannilase XP200 and the firmness index at cutting was the same (Firmness index=6.5). This firmness index was obtained 1 min later than in example 1, due to the higher pH at renneting.

[0103] The other parameters of the cheesemaking were identical to examples 1 and 2, except the final stirring time, which was 10 minutes longer to manage the dry matter target at stretching (Tab 4).

[0104] With this optimized process, the pH of the curd at whey-off was between 6.45 and 6.35 and the solid non-fat content was equal to 19.1% (0.7) Tab 1.

[0105] In this example 3, the moisture adjusted cheese yield was 10.50 kg of cheese per 100 kg of milk, the fat recovery was 86.7% (0.7), and the protein recovery was 77.0% (0.7). The protein losses in the whey (whey at whey off and whey before stretching) are shown in the tab 2. The protein losses are close to those obtained in example 1 (same coagulant with low C/P ratio).

[0106] This example 3 shows that with the optimized process and the use of a coagulant having a low C/P ratio (6.5 in this case), it is possible to increase the moisture adjusted cheese yield by about 0.3% only.

[0107] After 30 and 60 days of storage (at 4 C.), the functional properties (meltability and stretchability) were measured. Indices of proteolysis were measured at 8, 30 and 60 days (total soluble nitrogen/total nitrogen). The values are reported in tab 3.

[0108] The table shows that with this optimized process and the use of coagulant having a low C/P ratio that the meltability property is a little higher than that obtained using the conventional process but at the same time, the stretchability decreased (a consequence of higher protein breakdown).

[0109] The total make time for example 3 (from culture addition to stretching was 3 h 01 min) which was 33 minutes shorter than example 1, as shown in tab 4.

Example 4Optimized Process with a Coagulant Having a High C/P Ratio

[0110] This example 4 used an optimized process, i.e. same culture with higher dosage (than examples 1 and 2), higher dosage of coagulant than examples 1 and 2 (4080 IMCU/100 kg of milk versus 3400 for examples 1 and 2) and only 5 min for the hot maturation step versus 60 min in examples 1 and 2. The milk composition was the same as in example 3 and close to examples 1 and 2 (tab 1). As in example 3, the pH at renneting was higher than examples 1 and 2 to optimize the acidification versus syneresis rates (6.65 to 6.60 versus 6.60 to 6.55).

[0111] This example 4 used the same coagulant as in example 2, i.e. CHY-MAX M and the firmness index at cutting was the same (Firmness index=6.5). This firmness index was obtained 3 min later than example 2, due to the higher pH at renneting.

[0112] The other parameters of the cheesemaking were identical to examples 1 and 2, except the final stirring time which was 10 minutes longer to obtain the target dry matter at stretching (Tab 4). Therefore the stirring time was the same as in example 3.

[0113] With this optimized process, the pH of the curd at whey-off was between 6.45 and 6.35 and the solid non-fat content was equal to 19.0% (0.6) Tab 1.

[0114] With this example 4, the moisture adjusted cheese yield was 10.65 kg of cheese per 100 kg of milk, the fat recovery was 88.3% (0.6), and the protein recovery was 77.3% (0.7). The protein losses are less than the three other examples.

[0115] This example 4 shows that with the optimized process and the use of a coagulant having a high C/P ratio (40 in this case), that it is possible to increase the moisture adjusted cheese yield by about 1.7% in comparison to example 1 and 1.1% in comparison to example 2 and 1.4% in comparison to example 3.

[0116] After 30 and 60 days of storage (at 4 C.), the functional properties (meltability and stretchability) were measured. Indices of proteolysis were measured at 8, 30 and 60 days (total soluble nitrogen/total nitrogen). The values are reported in tab 3.

[0117] The table shows that with this optimized process and the use of a coagulant having a high C/P ratio it is possible to preserve these two functional properties.

[0118] The total make time for example 4 (from culture addition to stretching was 2 h 57 min) was 30 minutes shorter than examples 1 and 2, as shown in tab 4.

TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 Parameters Conventional process Optimized process Fat in milk 2.40-2.45 2.38-2.44 Protein in milk 3.45-3.50 3.41-3.48 Fat/protein 0.70 0.70 pH at renneting 6.60-6.55 6.65-6.60 pH at whey off 6.30-6.20 6.45-6.35 pH at milling 5.15 5.15 Coagulant Hannilase XP CHY-MAX-M Hannilase XP CHY-MAX-M Dosage of coagulant (IMCU/100 kg of milk) 3400 3400 4080 4080 Culture (Type/dosage g per 100 kg of milk) Sti06/6.7 g Sti06/6.7 g Sti06/10 g Sti06/10 g Solid No Fat at whey off (%) 17.5 (0.6) 17.6 (0.5) 19.1 (0.7) 19.0 (0.6)

TABLE-US-00002 TABLE 2 Parameters Conventional process Optimized process Coagulant Hannilase XP CHY-MAX-M Hannilase XP CHY-MAX-M Dosage of coagulant (IMCU/100 kg of milk) 3400 3400 4080 4080 Culture (Type/dosage g per 100 kg of milk) Sti06/6.7 g Sti06/6.7 g Sti06/10 g Sti06/10 g Protein in the whey at whey off 0.99 0.95 0.97 0.90 Protein in whey before stretching 1.66 1.16 1.50 1.09 Moisture adjsuted yield (kg cheese/100 kg milk) 10.47 10.53 10.5 10.65 Fat recovery 86.8 (0.7) 87.7 (0.6) 86.7 (0.7) 88.3 (0.6) Protein recovey 75.9 (0.6) 76.8 (0.7) 77.0 (0.7) 77.3 (0.7)

TABLE-US-00003 TABLE 3 Parameters Conventional process Optimized process Coagulant Hannilase XP CHY-MAX-M Hannilase XP CHY-MAX-M Dosage of coagulant (IMCU/100 kg of milk) 3400 3400 4080 4080 Culture (Type/dosage g per 100 kg of milk) Sti06/6.7 g Sti06/6.7 g Sti06/10 g Sti06/10 g Stretch-ability after 30 days (mm) >1200 >1200 >1200 >1200 Stretch-ability after 60 days (mm) >1200 >1200 1100 >1200 Melt-ability after 30 days 4.1 (0.2) 3.9 (0.2) 4.2 (0.2) 3.8 (0.2) Melt-ability after 60 days 4 (0.2) 4 (0.2) 4.3 (0.2) 3.9 (0.2) SN/TN day 8 4.9 3.7 5.2 3.8 SN/TN day 30 7.2 4.7 7.5 4.8 SN/TN day 60 12.8 7 13.2 7.2

TABLE-US-00004 TABLE 4 Process steps/time (min) Example 1 Example 2 Example 3 Example 4 Pre-fermentation 60 60 15 15 Rennet time 29 22 30 25 Cutting 5 5 5 5 Pre-stirring 10 10 10 10 Whey off 1 0 0 0 0 Middle stirring 0 0 0 0 Scald time 30 30 30 30 Final stirring 20 20 30 30 Whey off 2 20 20 20 20 Cut in blocks 10 10 10 10 2. turn 10 10 10 10 3. turn 10 11 11 12 Milling 5 5 5 5 Add. of salt before 5 5 5 5 Stretching Total time (min) 214 208 181 177

REFERENCES

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