Cheeses and pizza

Cheeses are among the favorite foods of Italians who, on pizzas, in toasted sandwiches and in various snacks, consume an average of almost 20kg (44 lb) a year. Their level of love for this food places Italy fourth in the world for cheese consumption per capita. Among the many toppings that are used for pizza, cheese takes pride of place. The pizza lends itself to infinite customisations dictated by taste, seasonality and geographical location. Fior di latte and buffalo mozzarella are the most used but share this fundamental role with equally noble dairy products that enjoy different properties and that go well with each other and with other ingredients.

The range of cheeses to be used is really wide and offers a broad view of Italian tradition. These excellences of our cuisine and the combination with the right ingredients allow us to offer a great variety of flavours to all pizza lovers. Putting the right amount of mozzarella on the pizza is essential in order not to damage the dough and not to make the ingredients float. First of all, you have to choose the best mozzarella for pizza (we talked about it in the October issue in the article by Giosuè Rino Silvestro, ed) and then evaluate the size of the pizza. Indeed, how much mozzarella to put on the round pizza depends on the diameter.

According to a standard rule, the pizza should have a diameter of 22-35cm (8.7”13.8”), so the quantity of mozzarella can vary from 80g to 100g (2.82-3.53 oz).

Furthermore, it is possible to evaluate the quantity of mozzarella also based on the ingredients that will make up the pizza, choosing a quantity in between the values we have indicated.

Finally, close attention must also be paid to customer requests, who may want a greater dose of mozzarella on their pizza. So, let's see which are the most used cheeses and what their characteristics are.

Fior Di Latte Mozzarella

The queen of pizzas is of course the Margherita, of which a key ingredient is mozzarella fior di latte. This dairy product is simply the most famous fresh curd cheese in the world, produced with cow's milk and an integral part of the Mediterranean diet. Mozzarella is rich in mineral salts such as calcium and vitamins (B12, K), but also in saturated fats. For those attentive to their diet, in recent years you can also find low fat versions of fior di latte mozzarella made with skimmed milk as well as lactose-free. Mozzarella for pizza is slightly different from that for the table: it contains less water but maintains the same organoleptic characteristics.

Buffalo Mozzarella

This type of mozzarella, typical of Campania, is made with milk coming only from selected buffaloes and sent to the dairy within 12 hours of milking. Here it is filtered and subjected to various treatments, strictly following the traditional process: spinning, shaping and salting. The final product is the buffalo mozzarella for pizza that we all love. This tasty dairy product has a high concentration of animal fats and proteins. However, it is light and easy to digest, with very low percentages of lactose and cholesterol. Compared to fior di latte mozzarella, buffalo mozzarella has a slight crust. Once cut, however, it releases more liquid.

Provola

It is a cheese of very ancient origins. The first appearance seems to have been around 1700, when it appeared in Neapolitan nativity scenes for the first time. From a nutritional point of view, provola is rich in vitamin C, sodium, calcium, phosphorus and can be eaten both melted on pizza and as a table cheese. Then, there is the smoked version which is obtained by exposing the fresh cheese to wheat straw smoke. The procedure darkens the crust of the cheese which takes on a dark yellow colour and the typical smoky aroma. Furthermore, in this way, the Provola can be conserved longer.

Grana Padano

It is one of the most famous cheeses in the world. Grana Padano is a hard cheese that is produced in the Po Valley. The origin of Grana Padano dates back to the Middle Ages and was invented by the Cistercian monks of the Chiaravalle Abbey, located a few kilometers from Milan, in around 1135. It is a PDO product (protected designation of origin) which must be worked exclusively in a well-defined area of northern Italy, according to the specification written up in 1954. The specification, in addition to indicating the various stages of processing and the seasoning period of the cheese (from 9 to 24 months), also establishes that the breeding of the cows, their milking and the subsequent transformation of the milk must take place exclusively in the indicated area.

Stracchino

Stracchino is produced with whole cow's milk and aged for a maximum of 30 days. This cheese from Lombardy is a soft but compact paste and undergoes the same manufacturing process as crescenza and taleggio. It is rich in proteins and saturated fats therefore it must be consumed in moderation. It has a high concentration of vitamins, such as B12, and mineral salts such as calcium and phosphorus.

Taleggio

Taleggio is one of the oldest Italian cheeses, with traces of its trade being found in some accounting documents from 1200 AD. In the beginning, production was concentrated in the provinces of Lombardy and Piedmont. At the end of the 1980s, however, it obtained the Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) mark. Taleggio is produced with whole cow's milk (like stracchino), subjected to a medium-term seasoning and then sponging with water and salt. It is a high calorie cheese with a high concentration of saturated fats. Precisely for this reason it is not recommended for those suffering from high cholesterol or the overweight. A fundamental characteristic of any self-respecting cheese is its high calorie content, due to the considerable presence of animal fats.

For this reason, it is often advisable to limit its consumption, possibly preferring lighter cheeses. In reality, all cheeses contain a certain amount of fat since the seasoning, depleting them of water, concentrates the nutrients, including cholesterol. For this reason, fresh cheeses are poorer in nutrients than aged ones. Cheeses with a lipid content higher than 40% are called fat, those with a lipid percentage between 20 and 40% semi-fat and those in which fat represents less than 20% of the total calories are low-fat. The only "light" cheeses are cottage cheese and ricotta, which however are not real cheeses, since they are produced from buttermilk or whey. Cheese is also a high-sodium food as it is used in the production process to control bacterial growth during aging. An excess of this mineral in predisposed subjects can aggravate hypertension or contribute to causing it. Despite the richness in fat, sodium and calories, cheese is a precious food as it is rich in important nutrients such as calcium, phosphorus, vitamin A and B12. As always, the trick is to have a balanced relationship with food: cheeses are acceptable foods from a health point of view, just don't exaggerate with their consumption. For example, it is a good rule not to exceed 50 grams of seasoned cheese per portion or to associate it with other foods, using it more to season than as a main course. www.campionatomondialedellapizza.it info@campionatomondialedellapizza.it REGISTRATION IS OPEN

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