Mozzarella, often taken for granted, is a cheese that’s easy to make but difficult to master. The difference — between a firm, rubbery mozzarella and a silken, delicate ball that gently collapses under pressure from the fingers — might not seem so big, but is actually a challenge to accomplish in production. It takes particular skills to produce a mozzarella that maintains its delicacy over time. If you’ve ever made Mozzarella at home, you may have experienced this: the balls can be soft and delicate at first, but quickly firm up as they cool, becoming more elastic and dense, and eventually rubbery. This is especially true when working with Water Buffalo (Bufala) milk — prized for it’s high fat, protein and mineral content, but devilish to work with. This organic DOP Mozzarella di Bufala Campagna, from Azienda Agricole Ponte Real, nails it on all fronts.
Ponte Real is located in the Campania region (thus the name of the Mozzarella), in southwestern Italy (the capital of Campania, Naples, is said to be the birthplace of pizza). First opened in 1993, the co-founders Enrico Rega and Roberto Spina where fellow students in the Agricultural Science program at the University of Portici, before setting out on their vision of creating a dairy built on environmentally conscious and humane practices, in their words, their goal being “to create a company capable of placing a superior quality product on the market, while also incentivizing respect towards the environment, animals and above all towards people."
The 1000-hectare farm currently supports a herd of around 1500 buffalos, and are given 100% organic feed. Mozzarella production began in 1999, and to date they are the only producers of organic DOP Mozzarella di Bufala.
The pearly white balls, hand-stretched at Ponte Real, are velvety and soft, the thicker outer skin cracking open to reveal an oozing interior, full of lactic, milky sweetness with subtle grassy and herbaceous notes and melting in the mouth. If you’re used to cow’s milk mozzarella, a true Mozzarella di Bufala offers up a much more complex textural and flavor profile.
This Mozzarella is imported by Pondini, a distributor that specializes in organic cheeses from Italy, Spain and the US.
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