Foods and beverages: apparatus – Mechanical – fluid or heat treatment of dairy food
Patent
1995-04-27
1997-08-12
Pratt, Helen
Foods and beverages: apparatus
Mechanical, fluid or heat treatment of dairy food
994506, 994507, 99454, 99455, 426582, A23C 1902
Patent
active
056554400
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
TECHNICAL FIELD
This invention relates to an improved method and an improved apparatus for the substantially continuous production of mozzarella cheese.
BACKGROUND ART
The production of mozzarella cheese requires cheese curd to be appropriately prepared by the cooking and stretching thereof prior to solidification as a cheese block. Solidification is achieved and/or accelerated by cooling, one cooling method involving immersion of the cheese curd in a brine solution. A brine solution is necessary or at least preferred to water as bacterial problems can arise with the latter. It is also known to cool cheese curd in a cooling room but this is not considered cost-effective and (ends to take longer than a cooling bath.
A first intention of this invention is to provide a method and an apparatus for the substantially continuous production of mozzarella cheese which will overcome and/or avoid problems which arise with known methods and apparatus or at least provide a useful choice thereto.
Also, for marketing reasons with the production of mozzarella cheese it is desirable to be able to produce the cheese blocks in at least two sizes, traditionally 10 kg and 20 kg blocks and a further intention of this invention is to provide a production method and an apparatus to readily achieve this end.
It is also envisaged that some of the steps involved in the method of this invention may be suitable for utilisation on their own or with other, but not all, of the steps of this method in other methods of manufacturing mozzarella cheese. Similarly some of the features of the apparatus may be so utilised with known mozzarella cheese apparatus. Further, some of the apparatus features and aspects described herein may well be suitable for utilisation in the production of other products.
DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION
According to a first aspect of this invention there is provided a method of manufacturing mozzarella cheese comprising the steps of feeding appropriately cooked and stretched cheese curd to a hoop fill-head, positioning a hoop adjacent an outlet of the fill-head anal placing a liner in the hoop prior to charging the liner with curd from the fill-head, vacuum sealing the liner and then immersing the so charged liner in a cooling bath until the curd has reached a required degree of solidity and then removing the resultant cheese block from the cooling bath.
According to a second aspect of this invention there is provided a method of manufacturing mozzarella cheese as described in the preceding paragraph wherein the method is carried out in a substantially continuous sequential manner, a plurality of hoops each being cyclically returned to the fill-head and a fresh liner placed therein prior to charging from the fill-head, an essentially continuous supply of curd being fed to the fill-head.
According to a third aspect of this invention there is provided a method of manufacturing mozzarella cheese as described in either of the two preceding paragraphs wherein a series of augers are mounted end to end in the bath, the augers being mounted in an inclined stepped configuration in conformity to an associated inclined stepped floor of the bath, each auger other than the last being disposed to discharge curd down onto the next auger.
According to a fourth aspect of this invention there is provided a method of manufacturing mozzarella cheese as defined in any one of the three preceding paragraphs wherein a plurality of fill-heads are provided, the fill-heads being supplied under pressure from the one common conduit and being adapted to be operated out of phase of one another to help maintain the supply of curd thereto at a constant pressure.
According to an fifth aspect of this invention there is provided an apparatus for manufacturing mozzarella cheese comprising means to appropriately cook, stretch and feed cheese curd to a fill-head, a hoop adapted to hold a liner and means to dispose the lined hoop adjacent an outlet of the fill-head as to receive a charge therefrom, vacuum sealing means to seal a so charged liner, and cool
REFERENCES:
patent: 3468026 (1969-09-01), Robertson et al.
patent: 3805689 (1974-04-01), Berger et al.
patent: 4112835 (1978-09-01), Mongiello
patent: 4332831 (1982-06-01), Rust
patent: 4824682 (1989-04-01), Morrison
patent: 5324529 (1994-06-01), Brockwell
Kosikowski, F. 1996. Cheese and Fermented Milk Foods. Edward Brothers, Inc. Ann Arbor Michigan, p. 396.
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