Discover the Mozzarella di Bufala Campana made according to tradition! Tenuta Agrilat accompanies you through its history, the characteristics and the unmistakable flavor of a dairy product that carries within it the value of culture and experience. That Campana.
The Mozzarella di Bufala Campana is a fresh stretched curd cheese, which owes most of its unique characteristics to the fresh buffalo milk produced in the traditional area of origin. The introduction of buffaloes in southern Italy took place around the year 1000, when the Norman kings created buffalo farms in Campania, bringing the animals from Sicily, where they had been introduced by the Arabs. The first historical traces of this cheese date back to the 12th century, when it was called either mound or provatura. According to the PDO legislation, the only area in which it can be produced mainly includes Campania, with the provinces of Caserta and Salerno, as well as some municipalities in the provinces of Naples and Benevento; Lazio, with some parts of the provinces of Latina, Frosinone and Rome; Puglia, with some municipalities in the province of Foggia; Molise, with the municipality of Venafro.
The term mozzarella derives from the verb “mozzare” (to cut), which refers to the manual cutting of spun curd cheese, compressing it between the index fingers and thumbs. Known above all in its typical round shape, up to 800 g, it is also produced in other sizes such as bocconcini (50 g), cherries, ovoline, knots, braids (up to 3 kg), as well as in the smoked version. . The package must show the Mozzarella di Bufala Campana and DOP (Protected Designation of Origin) brands.
Buffalo milk is a food rich in properties and with a unique flavor. It has a different composition from that of other animal species used for the production of cheese: compared to cow’s and sheep’s milk, buffalo milk contains a higher quantity of lipids, proteins and carbohydrates. It is also very rich in mineral salts and has significantly lower cholesterol levels than cow’s milk. It contains lactose, but to a small extent, which makes it more digestible.
Tenuta Agrilat’s Mozzarella di Bufala Campana DOP is produced only with fresh and whole milk from Italian Mediterranean buffalo breed. The buffalo milk we use comes exclusively from our farms and from certified producers who look after and raise their buffaloes according to nature, in the Piana del Sele. For the milk to be good, from the very beginning, the animals, all registered in the registry, are raised in semi-free housing in open pasture. The milk, with a minimum fat content established by the specification (7.2%), arrives at the dairy for its processing which always takes place within 60 hours of milking. Coagulation is obtained by adding natural enzymes deriving from previous buffalo milk processing to milk heated to 33-36 ° C, the so-called ‘whey graft’. The curd, broken to obtain walnut-sized grains, is left to mature in whey for about 5 hours and then reduced into strips spun in water at 95 ° C and ‘cut off’ to obtain the desired size. It is at this stage where we find the etymology of the term Mozzarella which derives precisely from the cutting done to separate the dough into individual parts. The pieces obtained are kept in cold water and salted in brine for variable times: once packaged they are stored in the preserving liquid.
The color of the crust, smooth and one millimeter thick, is a candid porcelain white, the thin-sheeted pasta is elastic within the first hours of packaging, then more melting, without holes: a slight white and greasy serosity is released when cut with scent of lactic ferments. The flavor is distinctive and delicate. Savor it in all its forms.