Natural whey culture, the true secret of handmade quality mozzarella
Buying a mozzarella or dairy products in general, we focus on quality, choosing the artisan production that we deem the most genuine, healthy, traditional.
However, the difference is in the fermentation occurred through natural cultures of lactic bacteria or in the addition of organic acids (usually citric or lactic acid) or selected ferments.
In the first case we are talking about the natural whey culture, an element that is little known by the general public but very important for those involved in food production. An artisan tradition developed by Caseificio Palazzo’s Murgella since 1957 managing to integrate it, maintaining its basic features, into the ever pressing sanitary and hygienic standards within the modern production dynamics of a company that satisfies customers all over the world.
The natural whey culture
Natural whey culture is a natural population of lactic bacteria whose composition, which varies from cheese to cheese and from day to day for the same cheeses, derives from the microbial composition of the starting milk which is naturally modified thanks to the correct management of the milk transformation dairy processes*.
In addition to a lower concentration of lactose (0.5 g% versus 1% of products using citric acid), the benefit of using the natural whey culture also involves the development of better sensory qualities, which can be found in a more robust and intense taste, thus allowing to reduce the amount of salt used.
The dairy use of natural whey culture uses the same principle of the sourdough in bread-making, as it is renewed daily bringing with it the aromas and the scents of the cow breeding areas, such as the “Murgia” for Caseificio Palazzo.
Natural whey culture, an added value for food safety
Today’s use of natural whey culture represents the enhancement of the good and valid already achieved in the past, together with all those processing techniques that confirmed the organoleptic excellence of mozzarella and, more recently, of burrata. The natural whey culture guarantees wholesomeness and genuineness.
A choice of quality and respect towards consumers, offering a product of great gastronomic value, safe and highly usable, even by the lactose intolerant, in fact “the lactic populations in the natural whey culture, in addition to reducing pH, completely consume lactose during aging (like for caciocavallo cheese) so that they can be safely taken by lactose intolerant; they also “break up” into smaller molecules (peptides and amino acids) thus facilitating the cheese digestion process.” *
*Based on: Baruzzi F. “L’antico cammino dal siero alla mozzarella”, in “Dalle Murge allo Jonio: territori e risorse di Puglia” by Leonardo Rubino.