Buffalo mozzarella


Buffalo mozzarella is a mozzarella made from the milk of Italian Mediterranean buffalo. It is a dairy product traditionally manufactured in Campania, especially in the provinces of Caserta and Salerno.
The term mozzarella derives from the procedure called mozzare which means "cutting by hand", separating from the curd, and serving in individual pieces, that is, the process of separation of the curd into small balls. It is appreciated for its versatility and elastic texture and often called "the queen of the Mediterranean cuisine", "white gold" or "the pearl of the table".
The buffalo mozzarella sold as Mozzarella di Bufala Campana has been granted the status of Denominazione di origine controllata since 1993. Since 1996 it is also protected under the EU's Protected Designation of Origin or DOP Denominazione di origine protetta and Protected Geographical Indication schemes. The protected origin's appellation requires that it may only be produced with a traditional recipe in select locations in the regions of Campania, Lazio, Apulia and Molise.

Areas of production

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. Only selected type Mozzarella di bufala campana PDO is produced in areas ranging from Rome in Lazio to Paestum near Salerno in Campania, and there are production areas in the province of Foggia, Apulia, and in Venafro, Molise. Buffalo mozzarella is a €300m per year industry in Italy, which produces around 33,000 tonnes of it every year, with 16 percent sold abroad. France and Germany are the main importers, but sales to Japan and Russia are growing.
Apart from Italy, its birthplace, buffalo mozzarella is manufactured in many other countries around the world. There are producers in Switzerland, the United States, Australia, Mexico, Brazil, Canada, China, Japan, Venezuela, Argentina, the United Kingdom, near Macroom in Ireland, Spain, Sweden, Colombia, Thailand, Israel, Egypt, India and South Africa, all using milk from their own herds of water buffaloes.

Mozzarella di Bufala Campana

Buffalo mozzarella from Campania bears the "Mozzarella di Bufala Campana" trademark. In 1993, it was granted Denominazione di origine controllata status, in 1996 the trademark received registry number 1107/96 and in 2008 the European Union granted Mozzarella di Bufala Campana Protected Geographical Status and PDO indicator. The Consorzio per la Tutela del Formaggio di Bufala Campana is an organization of approximately 200 producers, that, under Italian law, is responsible for the "protection, surveillance, promotion and marketing" of Mozzarella di Bufala Campana.
Among the many other Italian cheeses that have PDO status are Gorgonzola, Parmigiano-Reggiano and Asiago cheese.

History in Italy

The history of water buffalo in Italy is not settled. One theory is that Asian water buffalo were brought to Italy by Goths during the migrations of the early medieval period. However, according to the Consorzio per la Tutela del Formaggio Mozzarella di Bufala Campana, the "most likely hypothesis" is that they were introduced by Normans from Sicily in 1000, and that Arabs had introduced them into Sicily. The Consorzio per la Tutela also refers to fossil evidence suggesting that water buffalo may have originated in Italy. A fourth theory is that water buffalo were brought from Mesopotamia into the Near East by Arabs and then introduced into Europe by pilgrims and returning crusaders.
"In ancient times, the buffalo was a familiar sight in the countryside, since it was widely used as a draught animal in ploughing compact and watery terrains, both because of its strength and the size of its hooves, which do not sink too deeply into moist soils."
References to cheese products made from water buffalo milk appeared for the first time at the beginning of the twelfth century. Buffalo mozzarella became widespread throughout the south of Italy from the second half of the eighteenth century, before which it had been produced only in small quantities.
Production in and around Naples was briefly interrupted during World War II, when retreating German troops slaughtered the area's water buffalo herds, and recommenced a few years after the armistice was signed.

2008 Dioxin scare

On March 21, 2008, the popular US newspaper The New York Times published an article in which reported the difficulties encountered by the Campania producers of mozzarella in avoiding the contamination of dioxins of dairy products, exclusively in the Caserta area, and managing the resulting crisis in local sales. The article, later referenced by blogs and other publications, referred to the Naples waste management issue and referred to other pieces published by the International Herald Tribune and various other national and international newspapers.
These articles marked the beginning of an international media attention that raised the threshold of collective attention on the potential harmfulness of buffalo mozzarella from Campania. In particular, they pointed out to varying degrees a relationship between the fires of garbage heaps and the release of dioxins and other cancerous substances, which would end up in the pastures of dairy animals. Alarmed by some positive findings in the dioxin test, the South Korean government was among the first to prohibit the importation of Italian buffalo mozzarella, promising to remove the ban only when the findings confirmed the possible contamination and identification of responsible producers.
A chain reaction followed, in which several countries including Japan, China, Russia and Germany took various measures ranging from the mere raising of the attention threshold to the suspension of imports. The Italian institutions activated almost immediately, even in response to pressing requests from the European Union, a series of checks and suspended, in some cases, the sale of dairy products from the incriminated provinces. Tests had shown levels of dioxins higher than normal in at least 14% of samples taken in the provinces of Naples, Caserta and Avellino. In the provinces of Salerno and Benevento, no control indicated dioxins positivity.
In any case, the contamination has affected, in a limited defined manner, the farms used to produce the PDO buffalo mozzarella DOP. On 19 April, China definitively removed the ban on mozzarella, originally activated on 28 March 2008, and tests held in December 2013 in Germany on behalf of four Italian consumer associations have highlighted dioxin and heavy metal levels at least five times lower than the legal limit.

Production stages

To produce of cheese, a cheese maker requires of cow milk but only of buffalo milk. Producing 1 kg of butter requires of cow milk but only of buffalo milk.
The steps required to produce buffalo mozzarella are:
  1. Milk storage.
  2. Milk heating.
  3. Curdling.
  4. Curd maturation.
  5. Spinning.
  6. Shaping.
  7. Cooling.
  8. Pickling.
  9. Packaging.

    Nutrition

The digestive system of water buffaloes permits them to turn low grade vegetation into rich milk which, due to its higher percentage of solids, provides higher levels of protein, fat and minerals than cow milk.
Contents for buffalo milk:
Generally, buffalo mozzarella is eaten with calzone, vegetable, salad, on pizza, on grilled bread, with tomatoes, or by itself accompanied by olive oil.