The Caserta mozzarella is one the most popular cheese in Italy.
History of Caserta Mozzarella
Caserta mozzarella has been manufactured since ancient times, and it is one of the main export products of Campania. The production process consists of curdling milk, straining it, and heating it to about 35 degrees Celsius for a short time, which gives it its characteristic softness and elasticity.
One of the most popular cheeses in Italy, Caserta mozzarella, can be found just about anywhere as supermarkets stock this culinary delight because nearly everyone loves its fantastic taste.
This delicious cheese goes well with salads or sandwiches. It makes an excellent appetizer when served alongside breadsticks and tomatoes marinated in balsamic vinegar before sprinkling them with fresh basil leaves. For many Italians, though, there’s only one way to eat this cheese: deep-fried, battered, and served with tomato sauce for dipping.
How they make the mozzarella?
To make a good mozzarella, you need to use fresh buffalo milk, which gives it its characteristic softness and elasticity.
The cheese is created by coagulating the proteins in the milk with rennet from an animal stomach lining (vegetarian alternatives), then kneading them until they form strings of mozzarella curds. Next, you pass these through hot water where their moisture content is reduced to about 45% — this makes for a firmer cheese that has less tendency to melt when heated or taken out of refrigeration.
The process stops here if you want low-moisture mozzarella suitable for slicing, grating, frying, or baking. Still, if your goal is high-moisture–the kind uses on pizza, you need to introduce a starter culture called citric acid that produces lactic acid from the milk’s lactose.
The curds are then heated to 95 degrees F and stirred for several hours until they form into an elastic, stretchy mass with a smooth surface–this is the signature texture of mozzarella.
As formed this way, the cheese will have about 60% moisture content when it leaves its mold or press, so to prevent spoilage on store shelves, you need to spray it with a saltwater solution (brine) before packaging it in plastic wrap or vacuum bags. You must also sprinkle some dried natural anti-fungal powder on top because without these precautions, your newly made “fresh” mozzarella will turn green within days! Be careful!
Nutrition Facts for Caserta Mozzarella
Mozzarella has a good amount of proteins, and it’s good if you like the keto diet, for example. It has different fat content in it, and some may not be good for your diet. What’s nice is that there are different options to choose from, and they all have a lot of protein in them!
Mozzarella has more carbs than many other forms of cheese, but remember the reason why you’re eating cheese–to get calcium back into your body: Cheese contains about 30% of what you need every day just by one serving. But it has fewer carbohydrates than Cheddar, so that it could be a good option for a new type of hamburger!
It also has less sodium which means there’s no risk for high blood pressure over time if you eat mozzarella at least once per week as part of a balanced diet.
Of course, you don’t have to exaggerate with its consumption!