MOZZARELLA
Mozzarella is a cheese of Italian origin, made from cow’s milk, but it is not only produced in Italy. Furthermore, without specific regulations on the obligation to provide information on the origin of the milk, the consumer has no guarantee of its provenance.
On the label, we find at best the following elements: milk, salt, rennet, lactic ferment. At worst, the mozzarella will not be a cheese but a product composed of agglomerated cheeses (as is often the case on industrial pizzas).
The label also indicates the country of the manufacturing plant (FR for France, DE for Germany, IT for Italy), which in no way corresponds to the origin of the milk used. In Italy, there is the “fleur de lait” motion which guarantees cow’s milk mozzarella, not frozen.
BUFFALO MOZZARELLA
Mozzarella di bufala Campana benefits from a PDO which guarantees a production method, processing according to a traditional method using buffalo milk and preparation with milk that can only come from a specific geographical area, including the following five Italian provinces (Casente, Salerno, Lazio, Naples and Foggia in the north of Puglia), according to recognized and proven know-how.
How to choose it? Be careful not to confuse buffalo milk mozzarella with Campana mozzarella di bufala. It is important that the buffalo’s head and the red and gold label are printed. Richer in fats and proteins, mozzarella di bufala is much tastier. Buffalo milk is rarer and causes the real price difference with cow’s milk mozzarella (up to 2.5 times more expensive on average). We obviously appreciate it as in Italy, plain, without a drizzle of olive oil or other, or any other seasoning.
BURRATA
Burrata is a very creamy cheese. If traditionally, burrata is a ball of cheese filled with cream, made from buffalo milk, it is often found offered in supermarkets, made from cow’s milk, because it is less expensive to produce.
Originally from the Puglia region, burrata was born from the desire of a cheesemaker not to waste a day-old mozzarella. To do this, he came up with the idea of stuffing it with cream and leftover shredded mozzarella before closing it with a knot. Since then, mozzarella balls have continued to be stuffed manually in the center, with the cream and shredded mozzarella duo, which explains among other things its high price. While burrata has been trendy in France for several years, it remains little consumed in Italy and even less in Puglia where the white gold continues to be unanimous.
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