A process of making cheese, e.g., a mozzarella variety cheese, is
disclosed. It comprises the following steps: a) preparing a cheese curd;
b) grinding the curd while in admixture with (i) an aqueous solution of
at least one cheese emulsifying salt and (ii) at least one GRAS food
additive in the form of a comminuted solid, to obtain an
emulsifier/additive-impregnated ground curd; and c) converting the
emulsifier/additive-impregnated curd into cheese either by (i) heating,
kneading, and stretching the emulsifier/additive-impregnated ground curd
to obtain a homogeneous mass of cheese, or (ii) pressing the
emulsifier/additive-impregnated ground curd to obtain a homogeneous mass
of cheese. Examples of suitable GRAS food additives include gums,
stabilizers, dairy solids (e.g., non-fat dry milk or whey protein
concentrate), cheese powders, non-dairy protein isolates, sodium
chloride, native or modified food starches, colorants, and flavorants.
The process is particularly useful when a proteinaceous GRAS food
additive is used.