Mozzarella Curd (Mozzarella Company)
- Producer
- Mozzarella Company
- Country
- United States
- Region
- Texas
- Weight
- 5 lbs
- Website
- www.mozzco.com
- Milk
- Cow
- Treatment
- Pasteurised
- Rennet
- Vegetable
- Rind
- None
- Style
- Pasta Filata (mozzarella-type)
Located in Dallas, Texas, the Mozzarella Company was founded by Paula Lambert in 1982. Paula’s passion for all things Italian was the inspiration for the Company’s creation, although when the company started in the early 80’s, it was somewhat ahead of its time in terms of being able to find a ready market for fresh Italian style mozzarella. However, persistence together with great products really paid off and The Mozzarella Company has grown steadily and expanded over the intervening decades.
Paula’s inspiration for the creation Italian pasta filata cheeses stems from her love of Italian cheese as well as her frustration at not being able to find Fresh Mozzarella in Dallas during the 1980’s. Determined to put this right, she spent time at a small cheese factory near Perugia where she learned to make fresh mozzarella. Paula continues to use the pasta filata cheesemaking skills that she learned in Italy in the production of her range of fresh and young, Italian type cheeses.
Upon arrival at the creamery, the milk, sourced from Dairy Farmers of America, is pasteurized. Starter cultures are added to the milk along with rennet. Once coagulated, the curd is cut both horizontally and vertically by hand with cheese knives, forming the curds into small soft cubes and releasing a quantity of excess whey. The curds are allowed to “rest” in the whey until they reach the correct texture.
This is only the first part of the mozzarella-making process, however in this case Paula and her team stop here, packaging the curd into five-pound blocks for customers to finish the process at home. To finish, customers can do exactly what cheesemakers at Mozzarella Company do in their production of pasta filata cheeses: pour hot water over the curds, then stretch and shape them with a small paddle until they become malleable, smooth and satin-like in texture. Desired shapes can be pinched off from the stretched curd, then tossed into cool water to chill down.
