Our Campania Buffalo Mozzarella PDO

“… Campania Buffalo Mozzarella PDO was far more forward-looking, she didn’t care about the time it would take, she wanted a house that respected her taste, her needs and her expectations… she chose a suitable and healthy land where to stop and build… she developed a project that was ambitious but also concrete, innovative while respecting the traditions… she selected valuable materials… she hired skilled workers who knew how to work them properly.. she regularly and carefully monitored the progress of the work, with a thousand intermediate checks… she remained faithful to the project but with his mind open to improvements in progress…”
(From “The three dairy products” by Stefania Canciani)

Those born in the South can never take away the sea, the family, the warmth, the traditions, the food that is prepared and tested in every corner of the city and you can never take away the love for the Campania Buffalo Mozzarella PDO. Our Campania Buffalo Mozzarella PDO contains ancient secrets, how ancient is its tradition and its history, how ancient is the sense of family has guided us since the beginning of this adventure.

The Production

The term “mozzarella” comes from the practice of “mozzare” hand-spun pasta with indexes and thumbs in its most classic form: roundish. Buffalo Mozzarella is a cheese deriving from the cheese-making of fresh spun pasta, a historical heritage of the dairy chain in Southern Italy. From the elastic consistency and white color porcelain, the Buffalo Mozzarella is a fresh cheese with spun paste. When cut, a whitish serous liquid is released, from the smell of lactic ferments. The Campania Buffalo Mozzarella is the only buffalo mozzarella on the market to have obtained the European recognition of the PDO. For a Buffalo Mozzarella to bear the PDO mark, it must be produced in the areas of origin of PUGLIA, CAMPANIA, LAZIO and MOLISE and the production process must comply with the product specification. Today our Campania Buffalo Mozzarella PDO “IL PARCO” is the only one produced in Apulia (Puglia) exclusively from Apulian buffalo milk. Campania Buffalo Mozzarella PDO is a product that has become an icon of the Italian lifestyle in the world but is much more than agri-food excellence, it is something important for the inhabitants of the territories in which it is produced. It represents a part of everyday life itself, of the oldest memories, we could say that it is something ancestral.

The Milk

In the past centuries buffalo mozzarella was called with the names of provola, “provata” and “mozza” to indicate some moments of processing, hence the current denomination because of the mozzatura of spun pasta. Buffalo milk has a different composition from other animal species used for the production of cheese and dairy products. Compared to that of cow and sheep, for example, is richer in protein, calcium and contains a lower percentage of cholesterol.

The Controls

The buffalo milk produced in our farms is transported in a very short time to our dairy where it is subjected to all hygiene and healthy controls and the further ones of the Disciplinary, before starting the real processing. The whole fresh buffalo milk arrives raw and refrigerated at the dairy then is thermalized and then heated to a temperature suitable for the activation of the natural whey graft.

The Grafting Serum

The qualifying element is the natural grafting serum from the processing of the previous day, rich in natural lactic ferments. It is this native lactic flora to make our Campania Buffalo Mozzarella PDO unique and inimitable with a clean and typical taste. This addition serves to make the buffalo milk active and ready for immediate and subsequent coagulation that is carried out in boilers or polyvalent steel, through the exclusive use of natural calf rennet.

Coagulation

After a few minutes from the addition of rennet, the same lumps of caseosis are broken up to a size of little more than a walnut. From this moment on, the separation between the solid phase and the liquid phase of the milk (syneeresis) occurs. The liquid phase, removed by sampling, is called “sweet whey”, (raw material with which you will get the delicious Buffalo’s Ricotta), while the solid phase is called curd (raw material from which you will get the Buffalo’s Mozzarella).

The Proofing

The curd is left to acidify under whey until it is defined as “ripe” or “ready” for spinning by the farmer, employing the spinning test, from which the old etymology of the product (provata, provola). This empirical evidence, but reliable, consists in adding boiling water to about half a kilogram of shredded curd that, amalgamated until it melts, is stretched with the hands and a wooden stick: if it stretches evenly without breaking, is judged “ready” for the next spinning phase.

The Curd

The curd, at the right degree of ripeness, is placed on spurious tables where the entire residual serum is purged. Then it is cut and added with boiling water. The contact between boiling water and curd causes the mass to melt, which is continuously raised and pulled until a single homogeneous body is obtained.

The Molding

The spun pasta will take the most different shapes becoming mozzarella, bocconcini, “capozzelle” (our larger roundish size), braids, “treccione”… A not negligible part of the forming phase is carried out manually by the cheesemaker and his collaborators. The remaining part provides for the use of machines called forming machines that produce predetermined weight sizes.

Firming and Bagging

The Mozzarella di Bufala Campana PDO so produced is first left in tanks containing cold water to ensure a first important firming then the mozzarella is immersed in other tanks also containing saline solution that gives the product the right degree final of sapidity. Bagged and sealed, the finished product remains in its liquid until it is used by the final consumer.

Conservation and Consumption

To enjoy the best mozzarella, it is recommended to consume it the day of purchase. If not consumed immediately, it should be kept in a cool environment (10- 10/15- C), always immersed in its liquid. Remember: if consumed in the short term you should not put it in the fridge and however the Campania Buffalo Mozzarella PDO should never be eaten cold. The ideal temperature of consumption is 25 º C. If necessary, before consuming it, it must be left at room temperature for at least an hour, otherwise immerse the package, for about 5 minutes, in hot water (35/ 40 C).

It is a product that alone represents the essence of the people and the territory of the south: everyone likes it, it is convivial, it matches with any other food and you can enjoy it in any context.

It is a highly digestible cheese suitable for children, growing children and pregnant or breastfeeding women;
It is recommended in the prevention of cardiovascular damage;
It is a good source of vitamin A, beta carotene, vitamin E and zinc, all substances with high antioxidant power useful to counter the negative action of free radicals;
Authoritative research has shown that buffalo milk has a lower cholesterol content than cow cholesterol;
It has a very low sodium content that makes it preferable to cow’s mozzarella and other types of cheese known to be rich in this mineral, especially in all those pathological situations that imply the restriction of this mineral (hypertension);
It is less caloric than other dairy products;
It is better tolerated and is suitable for those suffering from gluten allergy (celiac disease);
Contains calcium that is easily absorbed as that of milk;

Eating our buffalo’s mozzarella is for us a bite in the memories, with the heart faithful to the project and with an open mind to improvements in progress… Unique and inimitable because ours is the only Campania Buffalo Mozzarella PDO made in Puglia with 100% milk of Apulian Buffaloes!