Despite several other cheeses are increasing in popularity as the choice of pizza cheese, mozzarella is still definitely considered “the” cheese for pizza. Even those pies that are sporting new and unique cheese combinations almost always include mozzarella in the mix, and the processed designer cheese products that have been developed specifically as pizza cheeses are only meant to be “new and improved” versions of the traditional mozzarella (but why mess with a good thing?).
For those of us who love our gourmet pizza, it’s fun to know a little more about the history of the products that make it, starting with that all-important staple of the best pizza pie.
Mozzarella has predominantly been the most favored choice of pizza cheese. As with most cheeses, it is expected that mozzarella was really created entirely by accident. Rumor tells the story that mozzarella was only created when cheese gratings fell into a pail of boiling hot water.
But getting to the point about mozzarella, it is a mild cheese that is put through a curing process (similar to falling in a bucket of hot water). The little we do know for sure about its real history is that the first mozzarellas were made not from cow’s milk, as is the most widely accepted norm now, but was derived from the rich milk of native water buffaloes.
In fact, true water buffalo mozzarella is considered one of the most marvellous choices to make when cheese matters, however it is not that readily available for everyone; instead, most pizza and delivery outfits make do with the still excellent fresh cow’s mozzarella. Still, it is possible in some parts to get real water buffalo mozzarella, including some areas of the mediterranian and from specialty food providers. The question then remains; Who milks the buffalo?
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