Pasta filata; mozarella and pizzacheese - Pasta texture processing

The pasta filata family is the world's leading cheese category in terms of tonnage, just ahead of Cheddar. It accounts for 40% of North American cheese production and 15% of European production.

This technology originated in the Mediterranean basin (Italy, Greece, Cyprus, Turkey...) and in Central and Eastern Europe (CEEC: Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia...); the milks used may come from cows, goats, ewes or buffalo, depending exclusively on the species and breed, but depending on the regulations applicable to the cheese concerned, mixed milks may be authorized.

It's assumed that the thermal cheese structuring process was originally carried out for sanitary reasons, to improve product preservation, as spinning was most often carried out in boiling whey. This is still the case for Cypriot Halloumi cheese and its Greek and Turkish farmhouse variants.

Spun pasta varieties include cheeses with similar textures and compositions:

• soft" pasta, such as Mozzarella (to be eaten fresh, with a best-before date (BBD) of no more than 30 days);

• semi-hard" doughs, such as Pizza Cheese;

• hard" cheeses, such as Cacciocavallo or Provolone, which are long-ripening, long-keeping cheeses.

From a technological standpoint, pasta filata cheeses are characterized by acidification of the curd to a pH of between 4.90 and 5.30 (or even 5.70-5.90 in direct acidification), followed by a process during which the curd is textured by a thermomechanical process. The result is a "plasticization" of the cheese paste, which gives the finished cheese its characteristic fibrous structure, and the functional properties expected when melted in a culinary preparation.

This article presents spun pasta through the lens of Mozzarella and Pizza-Cheese (LMMC: Low Moisture Mozzarella Cheese) technologies, the latter representing the most important international industrial applications.