Mozzarella!

English Buffalo Mozzarella – An Unexpected Delicacy – Italian Cheeseaholic

Mozzarella is undoubtedly one of the most famous Italian cheeses. There can’t be many people who are unfamiliar with the sight of glistening white balls of it or at least the taste of it on pizzas or in salads. However, you’ve probably never stopped to think about where it comes from or how it’s made. When we think about the origin of cheese, I guess cows, sheep or possibly goats come to mind, but did you know that authentic Italian mozzarella is actually made from buffalo milk? This Italian buffalo mozzarella (otherwise known as ‘Mozzarella di latte di bufala’) is notoriously hard to reproduce due to the ideal conditions and many years of experience in Italy, but one English farm is having a go at producing English buffalo mozzarella.

The Advantages of Buffalo’s Milk

Something that you’ve probably never really thought about, but is nonetheless still true, is the fact that buffaloes produce milk. Logical really seeing as this is what mammals do. Buffaloes’ milk is richer than cows’ milk as it contains more solids, meaning that it has higher levels of protein, fats, and minerals. This, in turn, makes the milk good for processing into products such as cheese.

It is unclear historically how buffalo came to be living in Italy, but what is for sure is that today the buffalo population there is large (for example in 2013 it was reported as 402,659). As a result, Italy is one of the world’s largest producers of buffalo milk. One of the many dairy products that is produced from this buffalo milk is mozzarella. Mozzarella can also be produced of course from other types of milk, but due to the fact that buffaloes’ milk is thicker and creamier, more cheese can be produced from less milk thus making it more economical, not to mention producing a cheese with higher nutritional properties.

English Buffalo Mozzarella – An Unexpected Delicacy – Italian Cheeseaholic