A comparison of low-fat mozzarella cheese with basil seed and taro root mucilage as natural fat replacers through chemical and rheological analysis

Mozzarella cheese (MC) is a widely consumed soft, fermented, dense proteinous cheese with unique viscoelastic behavior. MC behaves like a soft solid at ambient temperature and undergoes melt as temperature increases to 70 °C, aided by fats in cheese. However, reducing dairy fats in MC tends to affect its chemical, texture, and viscoelastic properties by making it rubbery. This study was planned to evaluate and compare the effect of basil seed mucilage (BSM) and taro roots mucilage (TRM) as a fat replacer to improve the stretching and viscoelastic attributes of low-fat mozzarella cheese (LFMC). BSM and TRM were added at concentrations of 1 %, 2.5 %, and 5 % (v/v) during the formulation of LFMC samples. The results of the physicochemical analysis presented a significant difference in fat content (p < 0.05) and the lowest value reported for negative control (T∗) and LFMC samples with 1 % BSM (BT₁) of 14.32 % and 14.82 %, respectively. In texture, among all observed parameters, the most prominent was hardness, and out of all the samples, T_o exhibited the highest value (9.93 × 10⁴ N/m²), followed by 8.69 × 10⁴ N/m², 8.65 × 10⁴ N/m², 6.73 × 10⁴ N/m² for BT₁, BT_2, and TT₃, respectively. Based on the results, the MC samples, including T_o, BT₃, and TT₃, required a low shear stress of 1000 Pa to deform at 70 °C compared to other samples. This shows that a high concentration of plant mucilage of 5 %, as in BT₃ and TT₃, presents the same cohesiveness as the T_o. The results of the rheological analysis showed that LFMC with BSM were less cohesive, compact, and experienced low-stress deformation. On melting at 70 °C, the viscoelastic attribute among all LFMC with mucilage was dominant as G″ > G′ in LFMC indicated softer liquid-like properties. Overall, the results concluded that preserving the appropriate casein-to-fat ratio using up to 2.5 % (v/v) BSM followed by 2.5 % (v/v) TRM can better preserve the rheological characteristics of LFMC.