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Wikipedia / Buffalo mozzarella

Buffalo mozzarella (; ) is a mozzarella made from the milk of the Italian Mediterranean buffalo. A fresh, soft pasta filata cheese, it is traditionally produced in Campania, particularly in the provinces of Caserta and Salerno.

Since 1996, mozzarella di bufala campana is also registered as an EU and UK protected designation of origin (PDO) product. The protected designation requires that it be produced according to a traditional recipe in selected areas of Campania, southern Lazio, northern Apulia, and the Molise town of Venafro.

In 2024 the producers' consortium certified an output of 55,718 tonnes of mozzarella di bufala campana PDO, roughly 40% of which was exported, with France as the leading foreign market. With a turnover of more than half a billion euros, it is the fourth Italian PDO product by production value, after Grana Padano, Parmigiano Reggiano, and prosciutto di Parma.

Areas of production

In Italy, the cheese is produced nationwide using Italian Mediterranean buffalo milk under the government's official name because Italian buffalo are found in all Italian regions. The , which has status, is produced only within a defined area which includes: in Campania, the whole of the province of Caserta and of the province of Salerno, and parts of those of Benevento and Naples; in Lazio, parts of the provinces of Frosinone, Latina and Rome; in Molise, part of the comune of Venafro; and in Puglia, part of the province of Foggia. Buffalo mozzarella is a €300m ($330m) per year industry in Italy, which produces around 33,000 tonnes of it every year, with 16 percent sold abroad (mostly in the European Union). France and Germany are the main importers, but sales to Japan and Russia are growing.

Apart from in 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, Ireland, Spain, Sweden, Colombia, Thailand, Israel, Egypt, India, and South Africa, all using milk from their own herds of water buffaloes.

itMozzarella di bufala campana

Buffalo mozzarella from Campania bears the trademark . In 1993, it was granted status, in 1996 the trademark received the registry number 1107/96, and in 2008 the European Union granted protected geographical status and the PDO designation. 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 . The mozzarella industry in Italy resulted from 34,990 recorded females of the Italian Mediterranean breed, which account for ≈30% of the total dairy buffalo population (this percentage does not exist in any other country) and have a mean production of 2,356kg milk in 270 days of lactation, with 8% fat, and 4.63% protein.

History

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 (the prehistoric European Water Buffalo, ) 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 12th century. Buffalo mozzarella became widespread throughout the south of Italy from the second half of the 18th 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 New York Times published an article which reported the difficulties encountered by the Campania producers of mozzarella in avoiding the contamination of dairy products with dioxins, especially 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.

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 buffalo mozzarella PDO. The Italian General Confederation of Labour reported a 40% reduction of workforce in the Terra di Lavoro for 2013. 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 1kg of butter requires of cow milk but only of buffalo milk.

The steps required to produce buffalo mozzarella are:

  1. Milk storage (raw buffalo milk stored in steel containers).

  2. Milk heating (thermic treatment to the liquid, then poured into a cream separator).

  3. Curdling (by introduction of natural whey).

  4. Curd maturation (the curd lies in tubs to reduce the acidifying processes and reach a pH value of about 4.95).

  5. Spinning (hot water is poured on the curd to soften it, obtaining ).

  6. Shaping (with special rotating shaper machines).

  7. Cooling (by immersion in cold water).

  8. Pickling (by immersion in pickling tubs containing the original whey).

  9. Packaging (in special films cut as bags or in small basins and plastic).

Nutrition

The nutritional composition of buffalo mozzarella differs from that of buffalo milk, because cheesemaking concentrates milk solids while removing part of the water, lactose and soluble components with the whey.

Nutrient

Amount

Energy

1075 kJ

Protein

14.1 g

Fat

21.7 g

Available carbohydrate

1.4 g

Water

61.3 g

Fibre

0 g

Calcium

367 mg

Sodium

211 mg

Cholesterol

52 mg

Vitamin A

203 μg retinol equivalent

Nutritional composition of PDO per

The producers' consortium gives similar average values for the finished PDO cheese, listing per 100 g 17 g protein, 24 g fat, 0.4 g carbohydrate, 245 mg calcium, 320 mg phosphorus, less than 50–60 mg cholesterol, and less than 0.4 g lactose.

Uses

Generally, buffalo mozzarella is eaten with calzone, vegetable, salad (for example, Caprese salad), on pizza (a low moisture content buffalo mozzarella is preferred), on grilled bread, with tomatoes, or by itself accompanied by olive oil.

See also

Notes

References

Further reading