Mozzarella cheese is like the perfect friend. It's always there when you need it, willing to step big time or play a small supporting role in any dish. It's the one everybody loves, and it gets along with everything. Never needs attention, and never makes you feel bad about hanging out with bigger, bolder cheeses once in a while. It's no wonder mozzarella is the most popular cheese in America today.
This snow-white, soft Italian-style cheese is a relative latecomer to America – U.S. soldiers "discovered" it (along with pizza) when stationed in Italy during World War II. Today, mozzarella cheese is the most consumed cheese in America, and Wisconsin makes more of it than anywhere else – nearly 1 billion pounds of this mild and melty cheese each year. Thanks, Italy. You're welcome, America.
There's not really a lot you can't do with mozzarella cheese. When grated, it's amazing on pizza, naturally, or baked into pasta dishes like lasagna or eggplant parmesan. We love it sliced on a focaccia sandwich layered with ripe roma tomatoes and grilled until the cheese is good and gooey.
With fresh mozzarella, a sliced tomato, a drizzle of basil, and olive oil is all you need for a light lunch or an evening appetizer. Or pair it with prosciutto, ripe fruit, and fresh summer vegetables for an out-of-this-world snack. And if you're lucky enough to have burrata in the fridge, you might try it with some olive-oil sautéed veggies or simply spread on a crusty slice of bread with a drizzle of olive oil and a pinch of salt and pepper.
For beverages, mozzarella cheese has lots of friends. We prefer pilsners or weiss beers, or a chianti, zinfandel, chardonnay, or pinot grigio if you're popping a cork.
Mozzarella cheese was originally made from the milk of water buffalo in Italy. In Wisconsin, as in other parts of the world where raising Italian Mediterranean water buffalo has not yet become fashionable, mozzarella is made with cow's milk. Smooth and creamy white, mozzarella cheese is best eaten within a few days after it is made.
Mozzarella falls into the pasta filata family, which are all produced similarly. After the milk is coagulated to separate the curds from the whey, the curds are heated until they become somewhat elastic, and stretchier than their previous state. Cheesemakers stretch and knead the cheese like bread until it is the right texture, and then form it into round balls.
Fresh mozzarella is used on pizza less often, because of its high water content. When using fresh mozzarella cheese as a topping, you can avoid a soggy pizza by cutting the cheese thinly, letting the slices dry on a paper towel to absorb extra moisture, and adding the fresh mozzarella to the pizza during the last few minutes of baking.
Fresh mozzarella is freshly made cheese that should be sold and consumed within a few days of being made. It typically comes in small containers filled with water or whey to help preserve its high moisture content. Regular mozzarella, the kind you buy to put on pizza or pasta, has a firmer, stringier texture and less moisture, making it a perfect melting cheese.
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We get it. "Mozzarella from Wisconsin" doesn't have the same ring to it as "mozzarella di bufala dall'Italia." But with something as important as cheese, you're not buying the accent, you're buying great taste.
Great taste, great freshness, great cheese. That's what you get with Wisconsin mozzarella cheese. That's what happens when one state is dedicated to making more flavors, varieties, and different types of cheese than anywhere else in the world.
See, in Wisconsin, we've been making cheese for 175 years – we achieved cheese-hood before we had statehood in America. Today, we make one quarter of all the cheese in America and nearly half of all artisan cheese. We have the only Master Cheesemaker program in the world apart from the one in Switzerland. We're the only state where cheesemakers have to get a license – because, come on, you can't just let everybody and their uncle make cheese. And we've won more awards for our cheese than anybody, anywhere – even more than those mighty fine cheesemakers in Italy.
So, mozzarella cheese from Wisconsin? You betcha.
Craving award-winning aged cheddar, pining for parmesan, or searching for a new cheese to try? The world’s best cheese is just a click away! Explore our directory of Wisconsin cheesemakers and retailers who offer online cheese shopping and get cheese shipped right to your door. What are you waiting for?
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