If you've ever tasted real buffalo mozzarella, as in the stuff made with water buffalo milk, you know how much creamier and more delicate it is than the versions made with cow's milk. However, it's notoriously hard to find in the US. Why? Water buffalo weren't bred for dairy production here as they have been in Italy for hundreds of years. One former software consultant in California set out to change that. Read more on why this hasn't been an easy task!
Craig Ramini followed a dream to bring real buffalo mozzarella to the US. He thought it could be as easy as finding enough water buffalo and tinkering with a cheese recipe. However, the water buffalo native to the US produce a fraction of the milk of a dairy cow and are incredibly sensitive to their environment.
"The buffalo, he says, 'required a type of interaction that I've never had with any kind of animal, even a human.'"
He build custom milking troughs, dealt with injury (his own), and escape (theirs). Today, more than two years after Ramini started his water buffalo dairy, he's gotten the buffalo to produce enough milk to start making cheese. Will more follow in the uphill battle to bring real buffalo mozzarella stateside? We hope so!
Read more: It's Easy to Be Cowed When Trying to Milk a Water Buffalo at The Wall Street Journal
Related: Weekend Project: Make Your Own Mozzarella!
(Image: Allison Arevalo from Local Lemons )
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Here (in Italy) is only way more expensive! but the taste is really good!!
It is amazing cheese but my big issue with buying cheese is getting accurate rennet information. For those of us in mixed carnivore/vegetarian/vegan households cheese is the trickiest thing to buy. Only one place near me, Cowgirl Creamery, accurately labels their offerings yet the local newspaper's cheese reporter can't seem to include rennet information in her regular articles.
My husband and I were watching "How it's made" and they showed how to make Mozerella.....in a rectangle block, at a big factory. I was like, "Whoa, wait, where are the water buffalo? What kind of milk are they using? Can't we be shown how the Italians do it and not industrial America?" I always thought that if it wasn't real water buffalo milk it couldn't be considered real mozzarella! Like how Champagne is not real unless it's from the Champagne region of France, or haute couture isn't real unless it's by a licensed haute couture designer!
@mrsberg: but champagne is referring to a region, so of course it can't be called that if its from anywhere else. Mozzarella on the other hand is referring to a technique (mozzare: to cut) so you can make it anywhere with any milk if you are doing it with the right method. Mozzarella di bufala, since its called Mozzarella of Buffalo of course can only be made with buffalo milk, while Mozzarella fior di latte can only be made with cows milk.
Strangely enough, Costco sells buffalo mozzarella and its simply divine. I've bother it ever since discoveringit in Italy years ago. Gotta love Costco!
I was wondering about the stuff Costco sells, but I've never actually bought it. Doesn't Trader Joe's also carry a version?
There's a company out of Columbia that distributes buffalo mozarella to the US under the name Annabella. Their product is pretty good, but I'm looking forward to seeing what can be done here.
After having paid a premium a few times on buffalo milk mozzarella, I've decided it makes more sense and is more delicious to just buy cow's milk mozzarella from whatever local cheese shop happens to be making it. It's fresher, it's milkier, it supports local business. I hate to say it but I really think it's overrated. It's tasty, but it's overrated.