SUMMARY: When many folks think of pizza, cheese flavor is what comes to mind. So have you ever considered upping the cheese flavor of your pizza? If you're currently using standard mozzarella or something similar, “kicking it up a notch” would likely be easy to do. This article describes a cost-effective way of enhancing the cheese flavor of a pizza.

One way to enhance the cheese flavor of a pizza is to switch to stronger-flavored cheese such as aged provolone or one of those mozzarella-provolone blends. However this often comes with a substantial price hike of 40-cents or more per pound.

There is, however, another way to increase cheese flavor … and at an amazingly low cost. Here's the “little secret:”

Mix a small amount of grated dehydrated Parmesan (or Romano) into your chopped, or shredded, mozzarella.

The recommended ratio is 50 to 1, or 50 parts mozzarella to one part Parmesan by weight. As a percentage, the weight of the Parmesan portion would be two percent of the weight of the mozzarella portion. So, for example, if you have 20 pounds of mozzarella you'd mix in 6 ounces of Parmesan (20 lb = 320 ounces; 320 x .02 = 6 ounces of Parmesan, rounded off).

Assuming that Parmesan costs, say, $3.20 per pound, that would amount to 20-cents per ounce for the Parmesan ($3.20 ÷ 16 = $.20). So a six ounce portion would amount to $1.20 ($.20 x 6 = $1.20). This means that the price of the 20-lb batch of mozzarella increased by $1.20, or just 6-cents per pound ($1.20 ÷ 20 = $.06) — substantially less than the cost of switching to a higher-priced cheese.

TIP: Be sure to use a decent-quality Parmesan with adequate flavor. Using an imitation Parmesan or a flavorless low-quality Parmesan won't yield optimal results.

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This article was authored by John Correll.
Response may be directed to john@correllconcepts.com.