Milk stolen from an animal is used to make all dairy-based cheese, but not all of that milk comes from cows. Additionally, some of it is taken from water buffaloes to make “products” like feta and mozzarella cheese. Water buffaloes’ milk is used to make the cheese known as buffalo mozzarella.
If you haven’t already, this never-before-seen footage of buffaloes being mistreated for their milk will convince you to permanently give up cheese.
Like other mammals, buffaloes produce milk only after giving birth. A Queensland, Australia, farm was visited by an investigator who witnessed terrified calves being separated from their mothers and kept in filthy cages.
Mother buffaloes were abused in the milking parlor and the surrounding area, being shoved, punched, and hit with sticks while unable to flee due to their legs being tied to poles.
Buffalo milk is frequently used to create rich cheeses, primarily mozzarella but also bocconcini, ricotta, feta, and halloumi, due to its high butterfat content. Buffalo milk yogurt is one of the new products that are beginning to appear in the US market.
Although foods made from buffalo milk are advertised as “luxury” goods, the milk is not produced in a luxurious manner.
Buffalo mozzarella is produced all over the world, aside from in Italy, where it originated. The milk from their own water buffalo herds is used by producers in Switzerland, the United States, Australia, Mexico, Brazil, Canada, China, Japan, Venezuela, Argentina, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Spain, Colombia, Thailand, Israel, Egypt, India, and South Africa.
The history of water buffalo in Italy is not settled. One theory holds that during the early medieval period’s migrations, Goths brought Asian water buffalo to Italy. However, the Consorzio per la Tutela del Formaggio Mozzarella di Bufala Campana claims that the “most likely hypothesis” is that they were brought to Sicily by Arabs and Normans in the year 1000. The prehistoric European Water Buffalo, Bubalus murrensis, is another piece of fossil evidence that the Consorzio per la Tutela cites as evidence that water buffalo may have originated in Italy. A fourth hypothesis holds that pilgrims and crusaders who had returned from exile brought water buffalo from Mesopotamia into the Near East and then introduced them to Europe.
Mozzarella di Bufala Campana DOP, the cheese’s official name given by the government, is produced all over the country of Italy using buffalo milk. From Rome in Lazio to Paestum near Salerno in Campania, it is produced there as well as in the provinces of Foggia in Apulia and Venafro in Molise. It costs about €300 million ($430 million) to produce 33,000 tonnes of buffalo mozzarella in Italy each year, of which 16% are exported (mostly to countries in the European Union). The top importers are France and Germany, but sales to Japan and Russia are increasing as well.
Buffalo mozzarella (Italian: la mozzarella di bufala) is a mozzarella made from the milk of the domestic Italian water buffalo. It is a product traditionally produced in Campania, especially in the provinces of Caserta and Salerno.
Due to its strength and the size of its hooves, which do not sink too deeply into moist soils, the buffalo was once a common sight in rural areas as a draught animal for plowing compact and watery terrains. Beginning in the eleventh century, references to cheese products made from water buffalo milk first surfaced. Before the second half of the eighteenth century, buffalo mozzarella was only produced in small quantities in the southern region of Italy.
The transition from sheep’s milk mozzarella to what is regarded as authentic “mozzarella di bufala” (buffalo milk mozzarella) occurred with the advent of water buffalo farming in the 16th century. In approx. Mid-20th century, mozzarella triumphantly spread across the continent of Europe. Due to the overwhelming demand, mozzarella is now almost exclusively made from cow’s milk. Compared to mozzarella made from buffalo milk, mozzarella made from cow milk has a milder flavor.
Mozzarella originates from Southern Italy. Early records reveal that by the middle of the first century A.D., the Romans were already making a similar kind of cheese from sheep’s milk. D. Tradition has it that during the third century, monks from San Lorenzo di Capua distributed bread and their own homemade cheese known as “mozza” to the less fortunate. The word “mozza,” which is derived from the Italian verb “mozzare” (meaning to separate), became the name “mozzarella.”
Mozzarella is a soft, stringy cheese from the pasta filata family, which includes other cheeses like Queso Oaxaca and Caciocavallo. Pasta filata translates to “spun paste”, referring to the method of kneading and pulling used to create the distinctive mozzarella balls we find at the grocery store. All cheeses are made in the same general way. They start out their life as milk from a cow, goat, sheep, or even a buffalo, and once all water is removed it leaves behind a cheese. From there, different processes are used to create all of the cheeses we have come to know and love. Mozzarella is a fresh cheese, meaning that it is meant to be eaten fairly soon after being formed, and usually has a mild, slightly sour taste.
Mozzarella was first developed in Southern Italy as far back as the 1st Century A.D., although the earliest form of the cheese was most likely made using sheep’s milk. The story goes that it was first made on accident when a few cheese curds fell into a pail of hot water. There’s also a story from the 3rd Century A.D., in which the monks of San Lorenzo di Capua were recorded handing out bread to locals with a cheese they called “mozza”. We may never know how mozzarella cheese first got its start in Italy, but we do know that it didn’t leave that particular region until the 20th Century when refrigeration technology had advanced enough to allow the cheese to be transported around the world.
Mozzarella is the most prevalent cheese used to make pizzas, and there’s a very good – and very scientific – reason for that. You see, when the mozzarella is heated in the oven, all of its water content comes to a boil, and then evaporates. This process creates a bubble within the cheese that grows until it pops, releasing the newly formed steam and allowing the cheese to brown. Other types of cheese have either too much oil or too little water content to form the bubbles needed to allow the cheese to brown properly. The chemistry of mozzarella makes it an essential base for any pizza.
If you’re a particularly savvy grocery shopper, you may already be familiar with the DOP label. For those who don’t know what we’re referring to here, the DOP label stands for Protected Designation of Origin (Denoimazione d’Origine Protetta) and is meant to differentiate high-quality Italian products made in their region of origin from low-quality, imitation cheese, wines, olive oils, and other food products. When you see the DOP label on a mozzarella cheese this means that the cheese in question was made in Southern Italy and that the quality has been approved by a governing body. For most of us, this designation may not be very important at all, but it’s important to know what we’re buying when we shop.
We do take our pizza making very seriously at Trapper’s Pizza Pub. In the kitchen at Trapper’s, we’ve even tried making our own homemade mozzarella cheese for fun. Although we don’t intend to continue it, it was a wonderful experience that helped us understand the special ingredients that go into our signature pizzas. We use mozzarella cheese on our pizzas, as well as our Meatball Sub, Chicken Parmesan Sandwich, Baked Ziti, Calzones, and Strombolis. Our Make-Your-Own Pizza Kits also include fresh mozzarella in addition to homemade pizza dough, sauce, and a topping of your choice.