Hi, I'm Earl. Product Manager at Recipe: Mozzarella Balloon
There’s only so much you can do with mozzarella cheese. There’s pizza, salads, and sandwiches, but the role of mozzarella in these foods is essentially the same. Mozzarella serves as an addition to a larger entity. Mozzarella sticks are different in that they serve as the primary component of a food, but what if mozzarella served as a vehicle or base for other flavors? What if, in the case of mozzarella sticks, instead of the breading acting as a shell for mozzarella, the mozzarella acted as a shell for other flavors.
Mozzarella balloons address this concept in that you can create a “balloon” made of mozzarella and fill it up with any flavored foams you want. Foam is an aerated liquid which usually includes some fats—which are necessary for the stability of the foam. Foods like whipped cream are foams, but foams do not necessarily have to be sweet, e.g. Easy Cheese. Nor do they have to be a product of the food processing industry.
For my first mozzarella balloon, I made a thickened tomato-balsamic liquid to pair with the mozzarella cheese for a modernist take on the classic caprese salad dish. The flavors resounded well, with mozzarella playing a minor role and the tomato-balsamic flavors stealing the show.
It’s simple to make mozzarella balloons provided you have a cream whipper like this one. You can even use mozzarella string cheese to make the balloons.
Recipe: Mozzarella Balloon
Makes one
- 0.5 inch-radius ball of mozzarella cheese, about 28g
- thickened, flavored liquid (this is what goes in the mozzarella balloon)
- Fill cream whipper with however much flavored liquid is appropriate. My cream whipper takes up to 0.5 liters, so I fill it up to that amount.
- Microwave mozzarella ball for about 10 seconds or until soft and pliable. The mozzarella should be very hot, almost a bit too hot to handle. Alternatively, you can heat up the mozzarella ball in a water bath.
- Wrap mozzarella ball around the dispensing tip of the cream whipper so that all expelled foam will be caught or surrounded by mozzarella heese.
- Slowly dispense foam from cream whipper until the mozzarella balloon forms.
- Carefully remove the mozzarella filled with foam from the tip, making sure no foam escapes. Close off the open end by twirling the end or pinching it in.
