Principle and Methods of Manufacture of Mozzarella Cheese

The Mozzarella cheese was originally manufactured from high fat buffalo milk in Italy. Now in European countries and U.S.A. it is also being made from cow milk.It belongs to the cheese classified as “pasta filata” which involves the principle of skillfully stretching the curd in hot water to get a smooth texture and grain in cheese.It is a soft, white, unripened cheese which may be consumed shortly after manufacture.Its melting and stretching characteristics are highly appreciated in the preparation of Pizza where it is a key ingredient.

Production of Mozzarella cheese far exceeds that of all other cheeses of pasta-filata  cheese because Mozzarella is an essential ingredient of pizza. Pizza, like Mozzarella,originated in Italy and spread through communities of Italian immigrants in other countries, until the middle of the twentieth century. After World War II, however,pizza restaurants in the U.S. began to establish market outside the traditional ethnic communities. By the mid-1970s, pizza was firmly established as a popular food with broad appeal in the U.S. The development of fast food and franchise chain pizza restaurants further hastened the growth of pizza, which eventually became an omnipresent element of American culture. Along with the growth of pizza came an unprecedented increase in the demand for Mozzarella cheese, as evidenced by striking increase in U.S. production of Mozzarella over the past 25 years (Fig ).

More recently, American franchise restaurant chains have expanded aggressively in other countries, thereby increasing the popularity of pizza in Europe, South America and Asia. As a result, worldwide demand for Mozzarella has skyrocketed, and many countries, in addition to the United States and Italy, now produce sizeable amounts of Mozzarella cheese, including Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, France,Ireland, The United Kingdom and New Zealand.