Making Mozzarella Cheese (and Transglutamacurd...?) - Part 2

[ProcrastinationPics]

So, we learned something interesting in our quest here and after I contacted Ajinomoto. Our failure in this experiment was in our calculation of the weight percentage for TG addition. We should have been calculating this based on the calculated weight of protein in the milk rather than the milk itself.

[thepopester1987]

So it increased the yield, but it obviously has to come from somewhere right?

My money is on the TG picking up some extra milk proteins from the Whey like albumin, making it an unmeltable cheese. I bet if you repeated the experiment and tried to make ricotta with they whey afterwards, the results would be miserable compared to the normal Mozza's whey.

[ProcrastinationPics]

@thepopester1987: Yes it did increase the yield. The TG aids in the binding of proteins together so yes it is essentially gathering extra proteins from the milk as the curd forms. So, I would agree with your hypothesis on the ricotta. The melting characteristic though has to do with us probably using too much TG to begin with. According to Ajinomoto: Activa YG (the dairy TG) aids in melt restriction in processed cheeses so it has to be used in a fine balance to increase yield.

[ProcrastinationPics]

@thepopester1987: We plan on doing more experiments with this in the near future, but time is tight for the next few months. So probably not until November or so. But, we do have some other projects we are working on at the same time. So check back often for new and exciting HD videos!

[cyanmanta]

Mozzarella that won't melt... Trendsetting string cheese, perhaps? I can't see it working well on a pizza.