Impact of the type of cooker-stretcher on chemical, rheological and microstructural properties of low-moisture mozzarella cheese analogue

In this work, we carried out the curd plasticisation of part-skim low-moisture Mozzarella cheese analogue (LMMCA) through a continuous dipping-arms cooker-stretcher or a batch twin-screw extruder. The chemical composition of LMMCA samples obtained with the two machines was not statistically significant. During refrigerated storage (8°C), samples processed with the cooker-stretcher showed higher hardness values and were slightly less proteolysed. Hydrolysis of para-casein proceeded at the same rate in LMMCA samples made with the two systems. We observed similar microstructures by confocal laser scanning microscopy. Under adopted processing conditions, both treatments allowed to obtain LMMCA samples with stable hardness values up to 50 days.