Mozzarella Pearls: Discover the Magic Behind These Cheesy Gems

You’ve undoubtedly encountered mozzarella cheese’s classic, gooey goodness on your pizza adventures, but have you ever heard of mozzarella pearls?

These delightful little gems can elevate your homemade pies to the next level.

With our wealth of pizza-making experience, we’re excited to introduce you to mozzarella pearls and reveal how they can enhance your pizza game. In this post, you will find what mozzarella pearls are, how to use them effectively on your pizzas, whether mozzarella pearls melt like traditional mozzarella, and so much more.

Stick around as we unveil the mysteries of these cheesy treasures and help you create pizzas that will dazzle your taste buds!

Let’s get started!

What are Mozzarella Pearls?

Mozzarella pearls are a form of fresh stretched curd cheese obtained from pasteurized cows’ milk. They are as small as marbles. Their outer appearance is creamy white and semi-soft. 

Mozzarella pearls trace their origin to Naples, made from the water buffalo’s milk. 

Today, mozzarella pearls are formed by mixing water with pasteurized cow milk. Mozzarella pearls have a mild and milky taste and are supple and elastic in texture.

Making mozzarella pearls demands you dip the curds into hot whey, knead, pull, and then stretch to form the balls. Other ingredients used are salt, lactic culture, and microbial rennet.

Mozzarella Pearl Size

The lovely shape of a mozzarella pearl makes it perfect for creating different pizzas and pastry cuisines. 

The commonly available mozzarella pearl sizes in food service and industrial pack sizes are 8, 11, 16, 23, and 27 millimeters. They may appear in slightly irregular shapes or oval sizes for the bigger pearls. 

Commonly available mozzarella pearl weights range from 1, 2, 5, 7, and a half and 10 grams each. The size and weight are ideal for easy handling when frozen or thawed.

How Many Mozzarella Pearls are in an 8 oz Package?

The majority of food factories pack mozzarella pearls in 5 grams each. One ounce holds approximately 11 mozzarella pearls. It means that 8 ounces will have 88 mozzarella pearls, take or give.

How Long Do Mozzarella Pearls Last?

Fresh mozzarella pearls last up to 3 weeks to one month from their date of manufacture. 

The best way to store mozzarella balls (especially leftovers) is by wrapping them in plastic bags and placing them in a ceramic or glass bowl. 

Ensure you wrap it tight to prevent it from forming hard balls. It will keep them moist and semi-soft for 3 to 4 days. 

One can submerge them in water or a brine mixture. This way, they can last up to a week. 

It is, however, highly advisable to keep them fresh using the liquid in the package. Where none of the above solutions are ideal for you, mix half a teaspoon of salt into a cup of water. 

The mixture is equal to the brine. Change this mixture after every two days to avoid food poisoning.

How Do You Keep Mozzarella Pearls Fresh?

The best way to keep mozzarella fresh is to store it in the refrigerator in a container of cold water and change the water daily.

Store mozzarella cheese in the refrigerator at a temperature between 34 degrees F and 40 degrees F. Remove it from the refrigerator at least 1 hour before serving it.

Mozzarella pearls are pretty delicate when it comes to maintaining their freshness. One may assume that since the package expires, it is fixed, but it’s not always the case. 

Many best-before dates indicate how long their optimum freshness is retained.

How to Know if Mozzarella Pearls Have Gone Bad?

It is pretty easy to identify mozzarella pearls that are spoiled. The smell is the best and easiest indicator. 

Fresh mozzarella pearls have a light mild scent to them. Spoilt mozzarella balls smell sour, but they will not make you sick. 

However, your pizza may not be of optimum quality if used as toppings. 

Traces of mold on your mozzarella pearls should be a sign to throw them away. If not, they will make you severely sick. 

Molding indicates that your mozzarella pearls were not covered in brine or liquid. 

Mold appears in the form of blue and green discolorations. Do not cut out the moldy parts, as the pearls can make you sick.

Dried and hardened mozzarella balls are of poor quality since the plastic storage was not wrapped adequately, as instructed earlier. 

Tasting the pearls in this state might give a bitter or sour taste. Again, discard immediately.

How Do You Use Mozzarella Pearls on Pizza?

Mozzarella pearls are great for pizza making since they are made from pasteurized milk and lack too much moisture. 

It is thus a perfect topping for pizza!

When using mozzarella pears for your toppings, slice the balls thinly before placing them on the pizza. It allows for even quicker melting since the surface area is larger. 

Also, the pizza browning will be even; thus, there will be no cold spots on your pizza.

Place mozzarella balls on a tea towel or a paper towel when you have a fresher option. It absorbs excess moisture, thus avoiding a soggy, watery pizza. 

Dab onto the mozzarella balls to accelerate drying. Alternatively, shred or slice your mozzarella balls to release excess moisture quicker during the melting.

When using mozzarella pearls on your pizza, it is best to add them as your toppings at the last minute. Mozzarella pearls melt quickly and start releasing moisture onto your pizza when baking. 

To solve the issue, bake your pizza dough, add sauce and other toppings, then bake 5 minutes to complete cooking; add in your thinly sliced and dried mozzarella pearls and viola! 

You will have a crispy, flavorful pizza.

Mozzarella pearls will melt on your pizza. However, they do not spread like regular pizza cheese. 

To spread them, you must arrange thin slices of the pearls around your pizza for consistency. 

You can also throw your pearls into a food processor to achieve a mozzarella-like cheese consistency. 

Ensure that your mozzarella balls are completely cold before using a food processor to shred them.

Did you know that not all types of mozzarella cheese melt well? Well, mozzarella pearls melt pretty nicely since they are high in fat content. 

Mozzarella pearls melt differently because they are made through a process called “pasta filata”, where the kneading and stretching result in stringy melting.

How Long Do Mozzarella Pearls Take to Melt?

The easiest way to melt mozzarella pearls is using a microwave. They take 30 to 45 seconds to melt here, especially at high temperatures and in thin-sized slices or strips. 

Leaving mozzarella pearls to melt for more than 2 minutes on your pizza results in the cheese releasing moisture, giving a soggy pizza. 

When using an oven, it takes about 7 to 8 minutes.

Occasionally, your mozzarella pearls will be on strike and refuse to melt. 

It simply means you purchased or made pearls low in acid or had too much of them. This low ph hardens the curd and causes water to disintegrate.

To freeze mozzarella pearls, follow these steps:

1. Drain any excess liquid or brine from the packaging.
2. Gently pat the pearls dry with a paper towel to remove any remaining moisture.
3. Place the mozzarella pearls in a resealable plastic freezer bag or an airtight container.
4. Label the container with the date and contents, and store it in the freezer.

When you’re ready to use the frozen mozzarella pearls, transfer them to the refrigerator and allow them to thaw overnight. It’s important to note that the texture of mozzarella may change slightly after freezing, becoming slightly more crumbly, but it will still melt well and taste delicious on your pizza or in other recipes.

Cheese connoisseurs preach against the practice of believing that freezing or refrigeration erodes the texture, making it rubbery and too chewy. 

Finishing 88 mozzarella pearls in a day at home may not be possible.

After purchasing fresh mozzarella pearls with no salt or water preservative, keeping them in the fridge is safest. 

The shelf life will be longer since the water content is lower. When refrigerating unopened packages of mozzarella pears, they last fresh for three (3) weeks past the expiry date. 

When kept in a freezer, they can last up to 6 months before expiration. Once you open the package, thaw them in the fridge so they last another four weeks after the date you opened the package.

Avoid freezing mozzarella pearls in their shredded form. Defrost and then shred in its cold state if that is your preference.

If you intend to use a mozzarella package once and store it away, freeze it for another three months. 

This process allows you to thaw the pearls in the fridge and use them for another two weeks. Opened packages of mozzarella last 3 to 4 days in the refrigerator before going bad. 

Never freeze your mozzarella pearls in the brine package. Freezin mozzarella pearls with brine or water will spoil the flavor and cheese texture and give you much trouble when defrosting.

Here is a list of packaging products necessary for the storage of mozzarella pearls:

•  Plastic wrap roll- essential to separate the balls and prevent clamping.
•  Freezing labels- shows the date and time the package was frozen and the expected removal date.
•  Freezer bags- have either food storage or silicon bags to keep the balls in.

Do You Rinse Mozzarella Pearls?

There is no need to rinse mozzarella pearls before using them. However, if they are packed in brine or liquid, you may want to drain them or gently pat them dry with a paper towel to remove excess moisture. This can help prevent making your pizza dough soggy when the pearls melt during baking.

Although rinsing mozzarella pearls is possible, but not recommended. Too much rinsing may remove the acidity and affect the mozzarella pearls melting ability. 

You can rinse the mozzarella pearls lightly or quickly, removing excess salt and brine from the package.

How Many Calories in Mozzarella Pearls?

There are 70 calories in 1 oz ( 28 grams) of mozzarella pearls.

Best Substitutes for Mozzarella Pearls

What you make greatly influences the cheese substitute you pick for the pearls. Pizza requires high-fat cheese to allow for easy melting. 

Is the cheese made from cow’s milk? It should give a mild flavor similar to the pearls. 

Pick what is melty to avoid a chewy and rubber-like texture. In the grocery store, only pick what is minimally processed. 

Extreme preservatives affect how your cheese melts. Here are the top substitutes for pizza:

•  White cheddar- Has a robust mild flavor and is easy to melt. It provides a creamy, gooey texture.
•  Provolone- has a more robust flavor than mozzarella pearls. It gives a stringy stretchy feel upon melting.
•  Gouda- Has a rich flavor and buttery texture. It maintains its gooey and stretchy nature on the pizza and is creamy.
•  Young Asiago has a sharp flavor and is a good choice for toppings. It is easy to melt than aged Asiago.
•  Parmesano Reggiano- This is granular in texture with a nutty taste. It melts perfectly and can be sprinkled on already-baked pizza.

Where to Buy Mozzarella Pearls

The Last Slice

Mozzarella pearls are made from cow’s milk and are easy to melt due to their high fat and moisture content. When used as pizza toppings, they enhance flavor and texture. 

Check out these guys to try other cheeses for your pizza.

As shown, mozzarella pearls can be stored for later use and remain fresh. They are easy to melt and use. 

Let the guide above guide you in your pizza-baking endeavors. 

Additional Cheese Resources

Enjoy!

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