The history of buffalo mozzarella 

Pasta filata cheeses have ancient origins, demonstrated by some curious hints found in the texts of Hippocrates dating back to 500 BC, which narrate the introduction in central-southern Italy of the buffalo as a working animal and not only by the ancient Greeks.

In fact, buffalo milk, once milked, was used as an energy drink and thirst-quenching thanks to its nutritional properties for the warrior troops. Later, due to its fast acidification and spontaneous coagulation, it was thought that heated it could be stored longer and transported comfortably, while maintaining its original characteristics, this is how buffalo milk cheese was born.

Between the tenth and twelfth centuries in the Tyrrhenian marshy areas, between the plain of the Volturno river and the plain of the Sele river, buffalo farms began to develop, as evidenced by historical documents in which it is said that the monks of the monastery of San Lorenzo in Capua used to offer a cheese called "mozza" or "provatura"" (when smoked) accompanied by a piece of bread to the pilgrims of the Metropolitan Chapter, who went every year in procession to the church of the Convent. The name "mozza" derives from the practice of "mozzare" the cooked pasta after adding hot water, making the curd soft and elastic, but at the same time tasty and thirst-quenching.

A few days after production, this very fresh dairy product changed its consistency into a harder cheese, then it was tied in pairs and left to dry, attaching the rope to the wooden beams of the houses, then it was left to dry "on horseback", hence the name of the current caciocavallo (cacio a cavallo).

In the following centuries, the product "mozzarella" became an exclusive and noble dish and therefore a gift only for Monks, Papal High-ranking and Nobles. The term mozzarella appears for the first time in a famous text by Bartolomeo Scappi, cook of the papal court, in 1570.

At the end of the 1800s, thanks to the Bourbons, who built the first experimental dairy, mozzarella took a wide consumption and spun pasta in general at the beginning of 1900 reached such fame that it led small local productions to develop and become real industrial productions.

This popular development of buffalo mozzarella, due to high production costs, led to diversification with other types of milk such as cow's milk.

At the beginning of the '900 the development of the agricultural sector and the reclamation of the marshy areas favored the expansion of buffalo farms and the growth of mozzarella production throughout the center-south, from the south of the province of Rome to Puglia and passing through Molise, thus exploiting the natural geological pedogenesis of the very swampy and water-rich areas.

In 1981 the Consortium for the Protection of Mozzarella di Bufala Campana was born, the only body recognized by the Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies for the protection, supervision, enhancement and promotion of this extraordinary cheese from Central and Southern Italy, appreciated all over the world.

In 1996, thanks to the immense work of the Consortium and the producers of buffalo mozzarella, the Mozzarella di Bufala Campana obtained the Protected Designation of Origin (PDO), the prestigious European brand with which those organoleptic and product characteristics of this cheese are institutionally recognized, derived mainly from the environmental conditions and traditional processing methods existing in the specific production area. This recognition is the most important PDO mark in central and southern Italy, the fourth nationally for production and the third among Italian PDO cheeses.

Currently the areas of recognition and origin of milk suitable for the production of Mozzarella di Bufala Campana PDO are: the regions of Campania (provinces of Caserta, Naples, Salerno and Benevento), Lazio (in the provinces of Latina, Frosinone and Rome), Puglia (province of Foggia) and in Molise in the province of Isernia in the municipality of Venafro only.

This year the number of kg produced of buffalo mozzarella Campana are 50 million of which 35% has been exported all over the world.

Not all buffalo mozzarella is produced with the PDO mark, in fact about 20% of the total production, by purely commercial choice, does not have the DOP recognition, but it is still made with milk suitable for recognition and in the territory of origin, and remains in the same way of excellent quality.

There are three possible names for this product: "Mozzarella di Bufala Campana" (certified DOP and therefore with 100% buffalo milk), "Mozzarella di Latte di Bufala" (not certified DOP but with 100% buffalo milk) and "Mozzarella with Buffalo Milk" (not certified PDO and not with 100% buffalo milk).

Since 2014, the buffalo supply chain has been further controlled and guaranteed by a Ministerial Decree that obliges milk producers, traders and processors to communicate all production data relating to the production and processing of milk, even starting from the communication of the serial number of the lactating buffalo. These controls ensure that the entire supply chain is scrupulously controlled in order to prevent and "fight" the crimes of the sector.

We can also say that the control systems of the supply chain have allowed the entire buffalo sector to have considerable increases in turnover in recent years, thus becoming one of the most sought after cheeses in the world.

Currently buffalo mozzarella, in a world where all dairy products fall due to strong competition and poor quality, is the only cheese for which the selling price and its value has risen in recent months by 15/20%. The merits go to all the operators of the buffalo sector, from breeders to entrepreneurs, from pickers to cheesemakers up to the technicians of the supply chain (veterinarians, food and technologists).

I conclude by saying that in the agri-food sector you can do a lot and do well, the important thing is the conscience and the will to undertake a path in synergy with all the professionals. Improvisation becomes counterproductive in every field of the dairy and agri-food sector in general!