The role of homogenization in the manufacture of halloumi and mozzarella cheese from recombined milk*

When halloumi and mozzarella cheese are made from normal recombined milk, neither product exhibits the characteristic stretch and melt behaviour of the fresh milk cheeses. The present study demonstrates that this problem may be overcome either by using low homogenization pressures to prepare the recombined milk or by coating the fat in the recombined milk emulsion with phospholipid and homogenizing at the usual pressure. The influence of homogenization of milk on the properties of the cheese is discussed in terms of a polymer network model.