Effect of milk fat content on the viscoelasticity of mozzarella-type cheese curds

TL;DR

This study investigates how varying milk fat levels influence the viscoelastic properties of mozzarella-type cheese curds, revealing that fat content significantly alters their rheological behavior and phase transition temperature.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the relationship between fat content and the rheological and phase transition properties of cheese curds.

Findings

Higher fat reduces viscoelastic moduli over a wide temperature range.

Solidified fat globules reinforce the protein network at low temperatures.

Increased fat content shifts the sol-gel phase transition temperature upward.

Abstract

The effect of fat content in cheese curds on their rheological properties was examined using dynamic shear measurements. Surplus fat addition to milk samples caused two distinct types of changes in the temperature dependence of the viscoelastic moduli of resultant curds. The first was a significant reduction in the moduli over a wide temperature range, which is attributed to the presence of liquefied fat globules within the milk protein network. The second was the excess contribution to the low-temperature moduli owing to the reinforcing effect of solidified fat globules. An upward shift in the sol-gel phase transition temperature driven by an increased fat content was also observed.