Mozzarella - what is this product?

On the shelves of stores not so long ago a new product appeared, which immediately came to taste to many - mozzarella. What kind of delicacy is this, and what is the use of it? Let's figure it out.

Mozzarella is a young tender cheese. For the first time to taste the taste of this wonderful product is best in its historical homeland - in the Italian region of Campania. For Italians, mozzarella is a national pride, along with Venice and the Colosseum. Once in this country, be sure to try giornata - the most delicious mozzarella variety of one-day storage. Its taste you can not enjoy anywhere else, except Italy.

So, mozzarella: what it is and where this product comes from, it became clear. Now we learn the features of cooking cheese.

The classic mozzarella recipe suggests the use of black buffalo milk, but today cow production is increasingly used for its production. To make mozzarella, take only selected milk, ferment it with a special dairy culture. Due to rennet enzyme, milk is coagulated. Then, after heating, the whey is separated, the preform is mixed until an elastic cheese mass is obtained, heating a few more times. At the last stage, pieces are cut from the resulting mass and the balls or braids are formed in various sizes and immersed in cold concentrated brine.

The aroma of homemade milk, delicate creamy taste, elastic consistency - all this is mozzarella. What is also a very useful product is known to a few.

Popular Italian cheese is rich in vitamins A, B, E, D, K, and also has a significant amount of calcium, potassium, sodium, magnesium, phosphorus, iron, copper, zinc, selenium. Such cheese is easily digested and suitable for dietary nutrition, recommended for pregnant and lactating women.

Cheese "Mozzarella" is an integral part of many Italian dishes. Without it, it is difficult to imagine a classic Italian pizza. Cheese is an important ingredient for dishes such as tagliatelle, mushroom fichuccini, casserole, lasagna, various salads. Caprese is a classic snack with mozzarella: circles of mature tomatoes alternately laid with cheese plates, poured with olive oil and sprinkled with basil. It's really delicious.

For those who want to try to make mozzarella at home, there is a simple recipe.

Mozzarella homemade is made from the following ingredients:

• A quarter teaspoon pepsin (rennet enzyme);
• Two tablespoons of lemon juice;
• Two liters of high-fat milk;
• Two teaspoons of salt;
• Two tablespoons of water.

It will be necessary to dissolve half a glass of water rennet enzyme, squeeze the required amount of juice from the lemon. Milk warm to a temperature of no higher than 70 ° C, add ingredients to it. Serum will immediately begin to separate. The composition does not need to be brought to a boil. You should merge the resulting serum and squeeze the resulting mass. Separately in a saucepan bring to a temperature of 90 ºС a small amount of water and turn off the fire. In well-salted water to lower the cheese for a few minutes, it will give it softness and elasticity. Then you need to stretch the cheese and knead it, periodically lowering it into this water. After this, the balls of the desired size must be formed from the plastic mass. The finished product should be stored in a refrigerator in a container with serum.

A decent place on your table will be the exquisite Mozzarella cheese. That this is not only an appetizing, but also a very unusual product, there is no doubt.