Overview

• Fabrizio Olmeda and colleagues received an Ig Nobel in Boston on September 18 for research that explains how to keep the classic sauce smooth.
• The study recommends about 2–3% starch relative to the cheese to stabilize the emulsion and avoid clumps.
• A practical step from the paper advises dissolving roughly 5 grams of starch in 50 milliliters of water before incorporating it.
• Handling the mixture below about 65°C prevents protein denaturation, which the authors dub the unwanted “Mozzarella-Phase.”
• As a nontraditional option, the team shows 5 grams of sodium citrate in 150 milliliters of water strongly stabilizes the sauce, with findings published in Physics of Fluids.