History of Mozzarella cheese

Mozzarella cheese begins in the Campania region in southern Italy and was originally manufactured from buffalo milk.

Plinius the Elder, classified the water buffalo as a ‘bubalus’ or an exotic animal, living in wet and swampy environment. Columella in De Re Rustica described a cheese that after curdling was warmed, cut, scalded in water, hand kneaded and molded in the shaped of a lump.

The first written record shows that Mozzarella was first made by the monks of San Lorenzo di Capua Italy, from sheep’s milk.

In the 16th century, when water buffalo were introduced to Naples, the rich milk of those animals started to be used.

Mozzarella cheese-making technology was brought to the US by Italian immigrants at the start of 20th century.

The cheese remained an ethnic product with a limited market until around World War II, when Italian cuisine in general and pizza pie in particular, began its meteoric rise in popularity.
History of Mozzarella cheese