There are 2 traditional heartlands of mozzarella production in Campania: the Piana del Volturno (to the north of Naples) and the Piana del Sele (to the south). Both are river plains with wet, marshy land – ideal terrain for water buffalo when they were first introduced into Italy in the 16th century.
The majority of production is now made on the Piana del Volturno but the area is much more industrial. Mozzarella from the Piana del Sele, which is still dominated by agriculture, is more highly prized and has the characteristically delicate, milky taste and classic velvety texture.
Our mozzarella comes from a dairy on the Sele plain where the production process is still carried out traditionally by hand (except for the cutting of the mozzarella that are sold wholesale – EU law is very strict about precise weights).
The dairy belongs to Pasquale Vito who insists on using only unpasteurised milk and who is in charge of production from the moment that the curds are separated from the whey to their all-important stretching.
This process involves pouring hot water onto the curds and then furiously drawing them with a wooden or metal stick to give the cheese its famous elasticity. Once the curds have been stretched they can beshaped and are placed in the cloudy brine and whey bath for salting. They are ready after a couple of hours.
Eating Pasquale’s mozzarella is like having a little explosion of creamy, slightly soured milk in your mouth. The texture is like velvet and the cheese is at its best eaten as fresh as possible in a salad, with parma ham, or ripped up and stirred through hot linguine with a fresh tomato and basil sauce.