Food Product Design: Ingredient Insight - August 2005 - The Hard Cheese That's Easy to Love

Hail Caesar ... salad! How fitting that the king of Italian heritage cheeses should top a dish named after Roman rulers. And that's not all. Today, Parmesan shows up in new applications such as artisan breads, breakfast bagels, crostini and snack foods -- not to mention the traditional flavorful entrées, appetizers, soups and salads for retail and foodservice.

"The nutty, sweet flavor of Parmesan cheese adds such a level of perceived value to these dishes, and consumers can taste the difference," says Dean Sommer, cheese technologist, Wisconsin Center for Dairy Research, University of Wisconsin, Madison.

A flavor favorite
U.S. consumers munched through a 1/2 lb. of Parmesan per capita in 2003. Retail sales of Parmesan totaled 59.9 million pounds for the 52-week period ending May 1, 2005, demonstrating a 3% volume sales increase versus the prior year, based on data analysis by Information Resources Inc., Chicago.

In foodservice, while mozzarella still wins the cheese popularity contest for most menu mentions, Parmesan plays a significant role in certain categories. According to a 2003 cheese study by Dairy Management Inc.(TM) (DMI), Rosemont, IL, Parmesan in salads on menus accounted for 40% of total cheese mentions in the salad category. In entrées, Parmesan and Cheddar comprised nearly 50% of all cheese mentions.

To answer consumers' love of Parmesan, some companies are flavoring crackers and all kinds of baked goods with it, says Sommer. Asiago is a cousin of Parmesan, and blends of these two cheeses are popular toppings for breads and bagels in some major baking chains.

"Parmesan does a great job of providing flavor, texture and an appealing golden-brown color," says Sommer. Available in block, shredded or grated form, Parmesan contributes to the Maillard reaction in products, lending a light-brown appearance and crunchy texture to breads or entrées.

Well worth the wait
Parmesan is a hard cheese with a unique manufacturing process. In general, the process is similar to that of other natural cheeses until the curd is cut into small particles. The cut curd is heated to 125?F (higher than for other cheeses) and is allowed to settle to the bottom of the vat. The curd is pressed and salted in a brine solution or dry-salted and dry-cured. As the cheese cures, it is periodically turned, scraped and rubbed with vegetable oil. Parmesan cures in a temperature- and humidity-controlled room for 10 months, according to FDA regulations for U.S. producers.

The look of Parmesan
According to Kevin Delahunt, president, Food Ingredient Division, Sargento Foods Inc., Plymouth, WI, the physical form of cheese is application-dependent. Bakers, for example, commonly choose a diced format for Parmesan and all other hard cheeses. Nonbaked applications tend to use a fancy shredded Parmesan. Parmesan is a slower-melting cheese because it has a higher protein content than some other varieties, so Parmesan shreds maintain their integrity, he notes.

In general, food manufacturers "are looking to maintain the visible appearance of cheese in their finished products because cheese is seen by consumers as a big plus," says Delahunt.

Latest cheese research
U.S. manufacturers can turn to new research developments funded by America's dairy farmers to continue to improve cheese quality.

For the past several years, DMI has supported researchers at the University of Wisconsin, Madison that have been working to identify and continually improve the chemical compounds in cheese. Jim Steele, a professor at the school's College of Agricultural & Life Sciences, identified adjunct bacteria that can enhance some of the fruity flavor notes associated with Parmesan cheese. This adjunct culture, Lactobacillus helveticus, is high in esterase activity. Steele's work with adjunct lactic-acid bacteria showed it produced fruity flavor notes closely associated with apple.

When a team of researchers from the Wisconsin Center for Dairy Research aged selected Parmesan cheeses using these bacteria, it produced flavor notes closely associated with cooked or canned pineapple, says Mark Johnson, one of the project's team members. "It wasn't the compound we were trying to produce," he says. But the sweet-pineapple flavor notes were closer to what is desired in commercial production than the apple notes. An internal taste panel gave positive marks to this new strain of cultures used in a test batch of Parmesan.

DMI's support of the research team at the Wisconsin Center for Dairy Research helps Cheddar and colby manufacturers use existing equipment to make dry-salted Parmesan in 40-lb. blocks. The staff's technical understanding of the microbiology and chemistry of Parmesan manufacturing and aging assists the cheese makers in producing Parmesan close in flavor and functionality to a traditional brine-salted wheel.

Getting help with cheese choices
Serving as a cheese expert in DMI's technical support system, Sommer answers processor and manufacturer questions about cheese as an ingredient. The top-three types of inquiries for Parmesan relate to color, flavor and body texture. Often, he hears from food developers about adding Parmesan to cheese mixes for its flavor.

Parmesan variations are directly linked to cheese-manufacturing practices. One of the most-critical factors relates to how complete the fermentation of lactose is during the manufacturing of the cheese. "Incomplete fermentation of the sugars leads to residual sugars," says Sommer. "Generally, in a hard cheese you would get very, very little Maillard reaction. But excess sugar will lead to heavy browning."

In addition, like other hard cheeses, Parmesan tends to be very crumbly. Getting the perfect shredded fresh Parmesan relies on how the cheese is cooled, acid development and salt, says Sommer.

Andrew Yeung is the director of Product Innovation at Dairy Management Inc.(TM), Rosemont, IL, a domestic and international planning and management organization that builds worldwide demand for U.S.-produced dairy products on behalf of America's dairy farmers. For assistance in formulating with Parmesan cheese, call the DMI Dairy Technical Support Hotline at 800/248-8829.

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