Buffalo Mozzarella and the Water Buffalo in Italy

Getting to Know the Mozzarella Buffalo

Buffalo Mozzarella is a traditional southern southern mozzarella cheese that is specially formulated from fresh buffalo milk, rennet (natural coagulant milk), enzyme-rich salts and milk. After painting and molding can be smoked, but only the natural, traditional process is used.

Cheese is soft in color, has a slight taste and is known to be rich in protein, calcium, mineral salts, iron and vitamins. Cheese is popular with chefs for its variety in the kitchen and for its special features that make it an ideal ingredient for Mediterranean dishes such as pizza, pasta and Caprese salad.

Mozzarella is a contraction of the verb 'mozzare', meaning 'cut' from the Neapolitan dialect spoken in Campania in southern Italy. It means the process of making mozzarella, as a large amount of curd is cut by hand, into smaller sizes.

The Italian buffalo mozzarella sold as the Mozzarella di Bufala Campana is protected under the European Union Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) status and can only be produced in selected areas of the Campania, Lazio, Apulia and Molise regions.

The origin of the mozzarella buffalo is said to be the Campania region where it originated in the provinces of Caserta and Salerno for centuries.

The history of the mozzarella buffalo in Campania dates back to the 13th century when dairy farmers in the region reportedly began to make mozzarella cheese from buffalo milk, mainly for local consumption, which at the time was considered cheaper than cow's or goat's milk cheese.

Water Buffalo in Italy

The water buffalo originated in Asia and is known to have been bred in the Indus Valley and Mesopotamian civilizations between 2000 BC and 3000 BC.

According to the Consorzio per la Tutela del Formaggio Mozzarella di Bufala Campana, it was the Arabs who introduced the water buffaloes to Sicily, while conquering Sicily which began in 827.