Author Topic: Grande Cheese (Read 10603 times)

Steve · « **on:** January 29, 2005, 10:18:46 PM »

I stopped my Vinny's tonight and bought two 7 lb. loaves of Grande mozzarella cheese! One whole milk, the other part skim. The thing that I immediatley noticed is that both are "low moisture"

Now, most "whole milk" cheeses are not low-moisture, so that explains why the Polly-O whole milk mozzerela cheese turns watery when used on a NY style pizza. The Grande, being low-moisture, does not. This is the first time that I've seen low-moisture whole milk mozzarella cheese.

At any rate, I am making two NY style pizzas for dinner tomorrow night... one with the part skim and the other with the whole milk mozzarella. And, yes, I will be using the "self clean cycle" to cook these pies!

Pictures and more commentary tomorrow!

canadianbacon · « **Reply #1 on:** January 29, 2005, 10:24:59 PM »

Hi Steve,

how much did those cost you a piece ?

Steve · « **Reply #2 on:** January 29, 2005, 10:27:05 PM »

I paid $2.30/pound, so the total for both was $32.00 (with tax)

canadianbacon · « **Reply #3 on:** January 29, 2005, 10:29:28 PM »

ouch, on the pocket book all at once, but that's a ton of cheese, that should last you what ? about a week ?
hehe

anyway looks good Steve... I could use some of that, I ran out last night.

anyway happy cooking...

Steve · « **Reply #4 on:** January 30, 2005, 08:55:24 AM »

I shredded a pound of each (for pizza tonight.) I cut the remaining cheese into 1 pound chunks, vacuum sealed them, and froze. I'll post a comparison tonight.

Giovanni · « **Reply #5 on:** January 30, 2005, 10:42:23 PM »

I just made a pizza tonight and used the grande whole milk. When i bought my 5 pound loaf i sliced it into 1 inch sections and froze it. Now more than 2 months later the cheese still tastes good. I've tried using just whole milk, part-skim, and a 50/50 mix and it's hard to choose a clear favorite. In fact, i didnt find there to be a large difference in taste. I'm interested to know your thoughts after you've tried both.

scampi · « **Reply #6 on:** January 31, 2005, 01:08:07 AM »

I buy 30 pounds(6.. 5 pound bags) of Grande whole milk mozzarella at a shot in "diced" form, not block or shredded. If anyone wants to buy some when I buy it I would glad to sell it at my cost. I live in Southern Cal. Just let me know. I usually freeze 5 bags and take them out as I need them. They last 3 months in the freezer according to the distributor. My price is a little more because it's diced but for me, it's a lot easier.

Steve · « **Reply #7 on:** January 31, 2005, 08:03:48 AM »

Ok, the results are in. Two pizzas, one with part-skim Grande, the other with whole milk Grande cheese.

The taste panel consisted of myself, my wife, and two neighbors. The two pies were 100% identical except for the cheese. The dough was made as one batch then divided into two balls. The sauce came from the same jar. Both pizzas were cheese only.

The Grande whole milk got the edge as being more creamy and less salty, but I think it must have been a psychological thing because I then performed a blind taste test using melted mozzarella only. When the two cheeses were tasted alone (i.e. not on a pizza), the part-skim won! Go figure!

So, the verdict: Too close to call. Both the whole milk and part-skim were excellent. More testing is needed! Fortunately, I still have 12 pounds of the stuff in my freezer!

Randy · « **Reply #8 on:** January 31, 2005, 08:07:16 AM »

That is why i would think Papa John's pizza uses a blend of whole and part skim.

Randy

Giovanni · « **Reply #9 on:** January 31, 2005, 08:24:33 AM »

I gave a blind taste test to my wife with just raw cheese (not melted) and she preferred the part skim. She also liked it better on the pizza. The only difference i can find is the way it cooks. The whole milk is smoother and has a stringy quality. I kind of like the fact that the part skim is not as stringy.

Crusty · « **Reply #10 on:** February 20, 2005, 11:27:10 AM »

Tried Grande whole milk mozz for the first time last night. While I was quite pleased with its performance ie., the way it cooked and did not burn or blister, I found the salt to be overwhelming and I will not be using it going forward.

Any other thoughts on the salt content of Grande vs others ?

Thanks,

Crusty

abc · « **Reply #11 on:** December 13, 2005, 02:39:13 PM »

Quote from: Steve on January 29, 2005, 10:18:46 PM

Now, most "whole milk" cheeses are not low-moisture, so that explains why the Polly-O whole milk mozzerela cheese turns watery when used on a NY style pizza. The Grande, being low-moisture, does not. This is the first time that I've seen low-moisture whole milk mozzarella cheese.

Pollyo whole milk non-low moisture is watery.

Pollyo whole milk low moisture (found as a loaf) is not watery.

tdeane · « **Reply #12 on:** September 09, 2008, 09:16:18 AM »

What is the moisture% in the whole milk Grande?

Pete-zza · « **Reply #13 on:** September 09, 2008, 10:34:09 AM »

Quote from: tdeane on September 09, 2008, 09:16:18 AM

What is the moisture% in the whole milk Grande?

tdeane,

Here is the nutrition information on the Grande whole milk mozzarella cheese, from the Grande website: http://www.grandecheese.com/products/Pages/Product_Spec.aspx?ProductMasterID=13. Subtracting out the weight of total fat, total carbs and total protein from the weight of a single serving (28 grams), it looks like the water content is around 43%. According to the nutritiondata.com website, a "generic" whole milk mozzarella cheese has a water content of about 47% (http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts/dairy-and-egg-products/25/2), and a "generic" whole-milk low-moisture mozzarella cheese has a water content of around 48.6% (http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts/dairy-and-egg-products/26/2). A point to keep in mind is that there is a fair amount of rounding of the numbers in nutrition information, and the numbers will usually change depending on the form of the cheese (e.g., block, shredded or diced). If you call Grande and speak to a customer service rep, as I have done before on other matters, you may be able to get more exact numbers on the water content of their whole-milk mozzarella cheeses in their various forms.

Peter

tdeane · « **Reply #14 on:** September 09, 2008, 11:00:31 AM »

Thanks Peter. I've been trying to find a Canadian whole milk mozzarella that is similiar to Grande but most of them are 48% moisture and 25% milk fat. I'm not sure what the milk fat % is in the Grande but I have a feeling it might be a little lower, maybe 20%. I want to open a pizzeria in my home town of Vancouver and have been looking for a good substitute for the Grande cheese because it's so expensive to get shipped. I may just have to bite the bullet and order the Grande.

Pete-zza · « **Reply #15 on:** September 09, 2008, 11:55:44 AM »

tdeane,

I am not sure whether the Grande cheeses are available in Canada or whether they will ship to Canada, even as close as Vancouver is to the U.S.

As an alternative, you might take a look at Saputo in Canada, whose website is http://www.saputo.ca/corpo/client/en/cons/Fromages/parlons.asp?id=144&cat=3. In the U.S., Saputo has several brands of mozzarella cheese at both the retail and foodservice level and they are generally highly regarded. Another possibility for lead purposes is to register and post at the PMQ Think Tank forum at http://thinktank.pmq.com/viewforum.php?f=6. There are a few Canadian pizza operators who fairly regularly post at the PMQTT forum and may be able to help you with cheese choices, either on the forum itself or via PMs. A couple of members whose names immediately come to mind are Daddio and canuckfanlady. Another member, royster13, is a former pizzeria operator in Canada. All three people are quality people. You might also search the archives of PMQTT, using the Search button rather than the search box. I did a simple search this morning along those lines (using Canada and cheese as keywords) and got several hits, including this one: http://thinktank.pmq.com/viewtopic.php?p=29306#29306.

One of our members, artigiano (Al), is in Vancouver and, until recently, was planning to open a pizzeria. If you send him a PM, he may be able to tell you what he knows about cheeses in Canada. Or maybe he will reply to your post if he sees it.

Peter

tdeane · « **Reply #16 on:** September 09, 2008, 12:06:16 PM »

Thanks Peter but I know pretty much all of the Canadian cheeses and have tried most of them. So far Tre Stelle is the best I have tried. I can get grande shipped to Canada but it's expensive because you have to get ot overnighted or second day.

November · « **Reply #17 on:** September 09, 2008, 02:07:29 PM »

Quote from: Pete-zza on September 09, 2008, 10:34:09 AM

Here is the nutrition information on the Grande whole milk mozzarella cheese, from the Grande website: http://www.grandecheese.com/products/Pages/Product_Spec.aspx?ProductMasterID=13. Subtracting out the weight of total fat, total carbs and total protein from the weight of a single serving (28 grams), it looks like the water content is around 43%. According to the nutritiondata.com website, a "generic" whole milk mozzarella cheese has a water content of about 47% (http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts/dairy-and-egg-products/25/2), and a "generic" whole-milk low-moisture mozzarella cheese has a water content of around 48.6% (http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts/dairy-and-egg-products/26/2). A point to keep in mind is that there is a fair amount of rounding of the numbers in nutrition information, and the numbers will usually change depending on the form of the cheese (e.g., block, shredded or diced). If you call Grande and speak to a customer service rep, as I have done before on other matters, you may be able to get more exact numbers on the water content of their whole-milk mozzarella cheeses in their various forms.

Peter,

How did you arrive at 43%, 47% and 48.6%? The two cheeses at NutritionData.com you mentioned have moisture levels of 50% and 48.4% (low-moisture). Even if you're just using the "rounded" numbers from the label for a 28 g serving, the levels are 53.57% and 50% respectively. Using the method you described, the moisture of the Grande cheese is flipped. It should be 57.14%. 28 g - 12 g = 16 g / 28 g = 0.5714285714.

- red.november

Pete-zza · « **Reply #18 on:** September 09, 2008, 02:53:54 PM »

November,

Ahh, you are correct.

For the nutritiondata.com calculations, I added together the total fat, total carbs and protein (using the more precise numbers at nutritiondata.com below the general nutrition data) and divided that by 28 grams. I should have subtracted that number from 28 and divided by 28.

Thanks for catching my error.

Peter

November · « **Reply #19 on:** September 09, 2008, 03:06:44 PM »

Peter,

Was there a reason why you didn't just use the amount of water reported at NutritionData.com?

- red.november