The Origins of Mozzarella Cheese

Written by Samuel Phineas Upham

The name “mozzarella” translates to “little socie,” which is a diminutive form of the Italian word for “slice.” The cheese got its earliest start in the thirteenth century, when the monks at San Lorenzo would give mozza and bread to the members of their church who would take part in the processions of the day.

It took four centuries for mozzarella to be mass produced using buffalo milk. It was crafted in Cardito, Aversa, and the Mazzoni of Capua. Today, the cheese is made from cow’s milk. It’s the basic cheese used in pizza, and is also an ingredient in many kinds of pastas.

If you order mozzarella from an Italian neighborhood in America, there is a good chance a very specific method of production was used. A shipment of curd comes from the distributor, and the grocer will make the final preparations himself. Factory made cheese sold in supermarkets is a lot different than the real thing. It’s generally older than fresh mozzarella, and it doesn’t have the juices that mozzarella has with it. The reason for this is the longer shelf life. The cheese must be preserved, so the juices are wrung from it to help add to its shelf life.

Today’s biggest competitor for mozzarella cheese is processed American cheese. The brined American cheese is used in the vast quantities of frozen pizzas, but the flavor is far from the authentic thing.