Nowadays the Mozzarella cheese is the most produced in Brazil. However, due to the problem of the seasonal production of milk, in a certain period of the year, there is a shortage of the milk offer and than the cheese price rises. For this reason, the usage of reconstituted dry milk blended with fresh milk could be an alternative for the stabilization of the offer of the product in the market. In this experiment, Mozzarella cheeses were produced with fresh milk and with fresh milk added of 10% and 20% of reconstituted dry milk (obtained from medium-heat dry milk). The physico-chemical and slicing properties of the cheeses made with fresh milk and with fresh milk added of reconstituted milk (10% and 20%) were compared. The statistical analysis of data permited withdraw the following conclusions: the Mozzarella cheese may be produced by adding 10% of reconstituted milk to the fresh milk without affecting its physico-chemical characteristics nor the property of slicing; on the other hand, that one produced by addition of 20% of reconstituted milk to the fresh milk showed a poor property of slicing.
Mozzarella cheese; reconstituted milk; cheesemaking; physico-chemical properties
