The farce of "fresh" mozzarella

[chezcherie]

I've got mixed feelings on this. As someone who has made fresh mozzarella from raw milk from my own cows and goats, I do see it as sort of false advertising. Maybe calling it freshly pulled mozzarella would be less of a misnomer. That said, I have no animals in milk at the moment, and my local grocery that buys pre-made curds and pulls them there is a very good substitute. As good? Not quite as good as what I get when I use really fresh (still warm from the cow) milk, but pretty darn good. The goat mozz has a different flavor, which I prefer, so not a fair comparison there.

By the way, lovely eggs, chezcherie, do you have Araucanas or Ameraucanas? We have some Ameraucanas for blue/green eggs and some Marans for dark brown ones. Love my hens!

ameraucanas, and i'm hoping to get a couple marans in spring. i would dearly love ot have goats, but i live in the 'burbs. maybe someday!

[WK2]

I did some googling on the topic, and came up with this article that at least implies that even CDM uses Polly-o, but it's nothing definitive (and maybe even implies is over-reading it - my theory is that if indeed you need a license to make cheese, then one could figure out whether CDM has such a license or not).

http://www.westchestermagazine.com/core/pagetools.php?pageid=6184&url=%2FBlogs%2FEat-Drink-Post%2FAugust-2008%2FFor-the-Germ-o-Phobes-Some-Dirt-on-that-Home-Made-Mozzerella-in-the-Water-Tub-on-the-Counter%2F&mode=print

Edited December 7, 2011 by WK2 (log)

[SylviaLovegren]

That introduces a few possibilities, and of course we're now pretty far off into the realm of pure speculation but... One possibility is that CDM and Fairway start with the exact same curds but through artisanal family handiwork the CDM people transform the curds into superior cheese. A second possibility is that the freshness and non-refrigeration are the critical factors. It could be a combination of 1 and 2. Or they could be starting with a different ingredient. I notice that on the Polly-O website there are three variants of curds -- I wonder if there's a material difference:

CURD

7104001002 POLLY-O Whole Milk Split Curd 2 21 lb bags

7104001000 POLLY-O Whole Mik Curd 1 43 lb bags

7104001010 POLLY-O Curd 2 10 lb bags

http://polly-ofoodservice.com/PollyO-SKU.asp

I'm also wondering about salt's contribution to all this. I assume salt is added to the curds by the "cheesemaker" so that could be a variable.

Is it curds or curd?

I don't know the effect of the different curds, but I do know the effect of just made versus hanging around for even a few hours. At the best NJ salumerias of my experience the muzz is made every few hours and not refrigerated so it's always juicy and warm when you bite into it. Really, you can't underestimate how much a difference age and temperature make. So if Fairway makes their muzz "fresh" every day but it is 12 hours old and has been refrigerated, it's going to taste very meh.

[slkinsey]

One possibility is that CDM and Fairway start with the exact same curds but through artisanal family handiwork the CDM people transform the curds into superior cheese.

"Artisanal family handiwork"? It's mozzarella. My 11 year old makes a great mozzarella. I learned how to make it in about an hour. I would not call my excellent mozzarella "artisanal" and I make my own curds from milk I hand milked from my own animals.

I would suggest that unless you've had some of the superior examples of handmade mozzarella made by acknowledged leaders in that craft, you're not in a position to say whether your 11 year old makes objectively "great mozzarella" at a similar level to these people. Because I have to say, I've made mozzarella fresh from scratch using raw milk, and while it was certainly worlds better than what passes for "fresh mozzarella" in fancy supermarkets, it didn't hold a candle to the stuff I've bought at Casa della Mozzarella. Nor does the fresh mozzarella made by the famous Little Italy latticini like Di Palo and Alleva compare to CDM. I agree that it's not rocket science, but I would disagree that one hour is all that's needed to match the quality of the best makers in the business.

Of course, as I and others have observed, temperature and age are also huge variables independent of raw materials and technical skill, and perhaps these are the most important variables. It's certainly not difficult to do better than gourmet supermarket quality on the basis of freshness and temperature alone.

For what it's worth, all "artisinal" implies is that the product is effectively handmade with care by a skilled manual worker using traditional techniques, as opposed to largely mass-produced using machines and modern shortcuts. Your mozzarella would certainly qualify if you were doing it for money.

Really, you can't underestimate how much a difference age and temperature make. So if Fairway makes their muzz "fresh" every day but it is 12 hours old and has been refrigerated, it's going to taste very meh.

Yes, time and temperature make huge differences. And I wouldn't say that you're likely to get even "same day" mozzarella at Fairway or any fancy market. These things all have "sell by" dates on them, and it usually isn't today's date -- meaning that you're likely to get mozzarella whose age can be measured in days, not hours. The Whole Foods near me sells a reasonably high quality "same day" local mozzarella that's sold out of an ice tray in the produce section. But even this, while having some qualities of truly fresh mozzarella and being head and shoulders above gourmet supermarket fresh mozzarella, has already had some of the specialness knocked out of it by age and temperature.

(What is this "muzz" of which you speak? )

[EatNopales]

I've never had the great Mozzarellas of Italy... but I've had some hand made stuff in some of California's best restaurants (like Chris Consentino's place) that I thought was pretty fabulous.

However, with my personal, limited frame of reference it seems a solid Mozz should not be that impossible to sell in a fast paced retail environment.

Bufalita, a fresh mozzarrella made in Guadalajara with local milk from Mexico's dairy capital sells never refrigerated Fresh Mozzarrella in f-ing 7 Eleven's all around Guadalajara and is what is used when you pick up a packaged Caprese salad from the cash register merchandisers... and I must say the Bufalita stuff was as good as Chris Consentino's... of course the quality of milk in Jalisco is second to none.

[slkinsey]

However, with my personal, limited frame of reference it seems a solid Mozz should not be that impossible to sell in a fast paced retail environment.

Bufalita, a fresh mozzarrella made in Guadalajara with local milk from Mexico's dairy capital sells never refrigerated Fresh Mozzarrella in f-ing 7 Eleven's all around Guadalajara...

I don't disagree with your premise, but I'm guessing that the health regulations aren't as strict (or as strictly enforced) in Guadalajara as they are up here. We're not even allowed to sell raw milk cheeses less than 60 days old! (grumble) There's no way a place around here would be allowed to sell unrefrigerated fresh mozzarella that's just sitting out in a counter all day. Places like Casa della Mozzarella literally make the mozzarella while you wait, put it in a tray and give it directly to you -- which is the only way I think they're able to get away with not refrigerating it.

[EatNopales]

However, with my personal, limited frame of reference it seems a solid Mozz should not be that impossible to sell in a fast paced retail environment.

Bufalita, a fresh mozzarrella made in Guadalajara with local milk from Mexico's dairy capital sells never refrigerated Fresh Mozzarrella in f-ing 7 Eleven's all around Guadalajara...

I don't disagree with your premise, but I'm guessing that the health regulations aren't as strict (or as strictly enforced) in Guadalajara as they are up here. We're not even allowed to sell raw milk cheeses less than 60 days old! (grumble) There's no way a place around here would be allowed to sell unrefrigerated fresh mozzarella that's just sitting out in a counter all day. Places like Casa della Mozzarella literally make the mozzarella while you wait, put it in a tray and give it directly to you -- which is the only way I think they're able to get away with not refrigerating it.

So CDM is using refrigerated, pasteurized milk.. to make Milk Curds that are presumably kept at a "safe" temp zone... then you order & they make it... or do they go from cold milk to mozz ball when you order?

[Fat Guy]

There also seems to be a salutary-neglect zone in effect in the Belmont section of the Bronx -- there are several stores up there (salume, anyone?) that seem to engage in practices that would trigger an immediate shutdown on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.

This is all very interesting and I'd love to know the facts. I guess we'll have to be content with speculation for now.

[slkinsey]

So CDM is using refrigerated, pasteurized milk.. to make Milk Curds that are presumably kept at a "safe" temp zone... then you order & they make it... or do they go from cold milk to mozz ball when you order?

As explained above, I am almost certain that CDM starts with prepared curds. Just looking at the size of the place (it is tiny) and the amount of volume they go through, I don't see how they could possibly curdle their own milk. Let's say you might get a pound of wet mozzarella out of a gallon of milk. These guys would literally blow through hundreds of gallons of milk a day.

From what I can tell, demand at CDM is such that they are continually making mozzarella. And they sell it in a few different configurations (large balls, knots, etc.). So it's typical than when you come in and say you want two trays of bocconcini that the guy in the back pulling the cheese goes directly from the water into your tray. It seems likely to me that they have someone else bringing the product from the curd stage to the stage where it's ready to pull, but I can't say for sure.

[sammy]

CDM uses Polly O Gold curds which is Polly O's top of the line curd. Not sure about Fairway.

[slkinsey]

Interesting article here where Josh Ozersky goes around Jersey looking for the best in hand-formed mozzarella.

Speaking to a point raised upthread, he mentions that almost all fresh mozzarella makers start with Polly-O curds, but notes plenty of difference between the cheeses made with those curds.

[Chris Hennes]

Is it possible for civilians to get these Poly-O curds anyplace, or are they foodserevice-only?

[hongda]

Looks like curds can be had from here:

http://www.goldenagecheese.com/_wsn/page4.html

not Polly-O though.

[larryroohr]

Amazon has 20lbs polly-o curds listed here, but currently unavailable (??).

Amazon link

[TheTechGods]

I know this is an OOOOOLLLLD thread but I stumbled upon it the other day, and I was reading through it. 

Then I saw this on Facebook:
 

For the record, that's "CDM" that's referenced many times in this post, and around 20 seconds in, you can see the Polly-O bag that they're pulling the curd from. So there we have it, 7 years later, it's confirmed for sure, CDM uses Polly-O! And so does everyone else who doesn't make it from milk directly. :-)

That being said, pretty much any restaurant or deli that gets deliveries through Food Service of some kind (Sysco, Lisanti Foods, etc) can get this stuff. If it's not available where you are, find an Italian deli or restaurant and go make some friends, they order it regularly, maybe they can order some for you. Even if they literally double the price of it, it's still well worth it -- in New Jersey it's readily available for around $3.50/lb. At $7.00/lb it would still be an incredible deal over ordering online with shipping, or even making your own from milk. Milk good enough to make cheese from usually nets out at more than $7.00/lb. 

Personally I make it from Pasteurized (not Ultra) Cream-Top (non-homogenized) local milk, but I don't believe it makes it any better than doing it straight from the curd. I just can't readily get the curd in Southern California. I'd have to find a deli to special-order it for me, online options are literally around $75 for a single pound shipped overnight, which is why no one has it in stock -- because no one would order it with that kind of shipping in mind. Not to mention, I'd have to prepare to make fresh mozz a couple days ahead if I want to do it from curd.... As long as I think about it before 7PM I can walk into The Whole Wheatery (like a local version of Whole Foods or Trader Joes) and get the cream-top milk and have fresh mozz in about an hour. 

Headed home to make a batch right now! Happy mozz-stretching!