Mozzarella di Bufala Campana

Appearance & taste

Mozzarella di Bufala Campana has a roundish shape. Other shapes customary in the area are also allowed: small balls (“bocconcini”), plaits, balls, cherries, knots and eggs. Depending on the shape, a piece weighs 10 to 800 g, a plait up to 3 kg.

The cheese is porcelain-white and has a skin about 1 mm thin. The surface is smooth, never gelatinous or flaky. The paste is finely fibrous, slightly elastic in the first eight to ten hours after production, then softer and creamier. When it is cut, a whitish, milky liquid comes out that smells of milk ferments. The specification calls the taste characteristic and delicate. Preservatives, inhibitors and colourings are excluded.

Smoked cheese is allowed if it has been smoked naturally and traditionally; it then bears the addition “affumicata”. The logo shows a black buffalo head under a red halo of rays, below it “Mozzarella di Bufala” in white on green and “Campana” in green. The presentation may not contain any other geographical information.

Production

Only fresh, unskimmed buffalo milk from animals in the defined area is used. It may be raw, heat-treated or pasteurised and must be processed no later than 60 hours after milking.

The milk is inoculated with natural cultures that come from the previous day’s buffalo milk, from the same farm or from neighbouring farms in the area. After warming to 33 to 39 °C, natural calf rennet is added. The curd is scalded with boiling water, kneaded and stretched. Then individual pieces are separated or shaped and cooled in a water bath until they are firm; how long depends on the size.

The cheese is then salted in brine. It is packed immediately afterwards at the production site. Until it is sold, the mozzarella lies in a slightly acidic, possibly salted liquid that is acidified with lactic or citric acid. Every processing step is recorded, and all breeders and businesses are registered with the control body.

Origin & history

The area consists mainly of drained former marshland, now crossed by rivers and canals. The soils are mostly of volcanic origin and consist of alluvial land. The climate is mild, with an annual average of 16.5 to 17.5 °C and 804 to 918 mm of rain. Mountains keep out the cold north winds, and the nearby sea softens temperature swings. According to the specification, these conditions are unique in Italy and Europe.

The buffaloes graze in plains and gently hilly land, kept extensively and semi-extensively, on modern farms partly in semi-open sheds. Their feed is pasture grass from the volcanic alluvial soils. According to the specification, many documents show that buffalo breeding has been economically important in southern Italy since the end of the 12th century.