When it comes to pizza, a good mozzarella is arguably the cornerstone of your menu. But the shelf life of dairy products can be short, and if you’re trying to cut costs by buying bulk or reducing delivery frequency, then you risk ingredients reaching their use-by date before you’ve got to them.
The good news is that many dairy products, including mozzarella, freeze incredibly well. But to get the optimal functionality from cheese once it’s been frozen, it needs to be stored, handled and thawed in the right way.
At Arla Pro, we’re dedicated to minimising food waste – in our own dairies and production lines as well as in the kitchens of our customers. To get the very best from freezing and thawing our mozzarella, as well as other grated and sliced cheeses, discover our tips below.
How to freeze your mozzarella
- Remove the cheese from its outer cardboard carton to avoid condensation weakening the carton.
- Avoid crushing or adding pressure onto packs in freezers.
- Never allow the product to remain in the open air or ambient areas. Fluctuation in temperature damages product functionality and the moisture will condense.
- Always move the product from one cold area to another without delay, keeping the cooling chain intact.
- Products should be frozen before the last day of shelf life (use-by date).
How to thaw or defrost your mozzarella
- If not already, frozen cheese should be removed from its carton.
- Bags should be stored flat between 2ºC and 5ºC for 3 days (72 hours).
- Once thawed, the cheese should be kept at below 5ºC in a closed bag or container.
- Use the products as soon as possible after thawing to preserve optimal functionality.
- Do not re-freeze product once it has defrosted.
- Be aware that defrosting times can vary significantly depending on fridge temperatures, airflow and temperature while frozen. However, to achieve optimal functionality we rec-ommend 3 days (72 hours).
Disclaimer:
These guidelines apply to Arla Pro mozzarella only. Guidelines for other brands or varieties of cheese may vary.
Operators should also consider other variables that might be at play, such as whether there is a need to rotate bags of cheese from inside to outside to ensure a consistent freeze / defrost rate across the batch.
In all cases it is best to freeze a small quantity of stock and defrost as a trial, this is both to un-derstand the freezing / defrost times as well as checking the quality post defrost.
