Italian cheese made from Italian buffalo’s milk by the pasta filata method. Fresh mozzarella is generally white but smoked mozzarella cheese seasoned it turns to a light yellow depending on the animal’s diet. When twisted to form a plait mozzarella is called treccia. Ovolini refers to smaller-sized bocconcini, and sometimes to cherry bocconcini.
Several variants have been specifically formulated and prepared for use on pizza, such as low-moisture mozzarella cheese. Low-moisture part-skim mozzarella, widely used in the food-service industry, has a low galactose content, per some consumers’ preference for cheese on pizza to have low or moderate browning. In Italy, the cheese is produced nationwide using Italian buffalo’s milk under the government’s official name Mozzarella di latte di bufala because Italian buffalo is in all Italian regions. Fior di latte is made from fresh pasteurized or unpasteurized cow’s milk and not water buffalo milk, which greatly lowers its cost. Outside the EU, “mozzarella” not clearly labeled as deriving from water buffalo can be presumed to derive from cow milk. Ciliegine is a traditional Italian type of mozzarella which comprises small smooth white balls of mozzarella that’s made with pasteurized cow’s milk, or sometimes with water buffalo’s milk. They are slightly smaller than bocconcini, another type of mozzarella balls that can often be used interchangeably with ciliegine.
Mozzarella of sheep milk, sometimes called “mozzarella pecorella”, is typical of Sardinia, Abruzzo and Lazio, where it is also called ‘mozzapecora’. It is worked with the addition of the rennet of lamb. Mozzarella of goat’s milk is of recent origin and the producers are still few. Percentages are roughly approximated using US recommendations for adults. Mozzarella di bufala is traditionally produced solely from the milk of the Italian Mediterranean buffalo. A whey starter is added from the previous batch that contains thermophilic bacteria, and the milk is left to ripen so the bacteria can multiply. Then, rennet is added to coagulate the milk.
After coagulation, the curd is cut into large, 2. The curds are stirred and heated to separate the curds from the whey. The whey is then drained from the curds and the curds are placed in a hoop to form a solid mass. The curd mass is left until the pH is at around 5. 5, which is the point when the cheese can be stretched and kneaded to produce a delicate consistency—this process is generally known as pasta filata. This protection scheme requires that mozzarella sold in the European Union is produced according to a traditional recipe.
