Skip to main content
Support

Browse by category

All categories
Fermentation Atlas

Cheese from Southern Italy, the Balkans, the Caucasus, Turkey, Mexico, Yunnan

Pasta filata (stretched-curd) cheese familymozzarella

Milk is set with a whey starter and rennet, and the curd is left to sour for hours until a melted sample pulls into long strands. The curd is then kneaded and stretched in very hot water, shaped, firmed in cold water and brined, and eaten fresh or hung to age. Made in 6 steps over 10 days – 35 days. The longest step, firm in cold water and brine, takes 25 min – 25 days (Levante A 2023) and runs at 16.5–19.5 °C (Levante A 2023). Salt is 4–18 % (ONAF (Organizzazione Nazionale Assaggiatori F…). Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactobacillus delbrueckii do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step25 min – 25 daysReported[levante2023][provolone-onaf]Firm in cold water and brine
Temperature16.5–19.5 °CMeasured[levante2023]Firm in cold water and brine
Salt4–18 %Reported[bufala-onaf][levante2023]Firm in cold water and brine
AciditypH 5.2–5.6Measured[bittante2022]Dry and age (provolone, caciocavallo, kashkaval)
Fully documentedCheese10 days – 35 days

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceFamily template, so the ingredients are the ones stretched-curd cheeses share. The only amount is the rennet dose from the Mozzarella di Bufala Campana technical sheet.
Milk · Mozzarella di Bufala Campana PDO: buffalo milk with at least 7.2 % fat and 4.2 % protein; cow milk for Provolone Valpadana[bufala-onaf][provolone-onaf]
Natural whey starter · Whey soured from earlier makes of the same dairy[bufala-onaf][provolone-onaf]
18–20 ml per hl milkCalf rennet · Mozzarella di Bufala Campana dose, strength 1:10,000; Provolone piccante uses kid or lamb rennet paste[bufala-onaf][provolone-onaf]
Hot water · For stretching the soured curd[bufala-onaf][provolone-onaf]
Salt · As brine[bufala-onaf]
Starternatural whey starter of thermophilic lactic bacteria, or defined thermophilic cultures; some industrial makes acidify with citric acid instead

Total time across the recorded steps: 10 days – 35 days

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
34–39 °Cshapes, not to countLactic acid bacteria

What changes: Whey starter and rennet go into warm milk and it sets

Step 1 of 6
Set the milk with whey starter and rennet
Time
up to 30 min
Reported
Temperature
34–39 °C
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria
S. thermophilus
L. delbrueckii
Lactobacillus helveticus

Output: curd.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
gel
Colour
white

Microbes at work in this step

the whey starter brings heat-loving lactic bacteria

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

What makes this one different

The soured curd is melted and stretched in very hot water, which lines the proteins up into fibres. Other rennet cheeses are pressed or moulded without this hot kneading step.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Mozzarella di Bufala Campana PDOWater-buffalo milk; natural whey starter; pinched off by hand.
  • Fior di latte, burrata, stracciatellaCow milk; burrata is a mozzarella pouch filled with shredded curd and cream.
  • Provolone Valpadana PDOLarge, hung and aged; dolce (calf rennet) or piccante (kid or lamb rennet paste).
  • Caciocavallo Silano PDO, Ragusano PDOGourd or brick shapes, aged.
  • Queso OaxacaMexico; pulled into ribbons and wound into balls.
  • Sulguni (Georgia)Made by melting and stretching brined imeruli curd.
  • Kashkaval, kaşar, oštiepokBalkan and Turkish stretched cheeses, aged; oštiepok is smoked.

Made the pasta filata way

Safety

Stretching heats the curd to 55–65 °C, but fresh pasta filata is high in moisture and is eaten within weeks. The UK NHS lists pasteurised mozzarella as safe in pregnancy and advises eating unpasteurised soft cheeses only when cooked until steaming hot, because of Listeria.

Hazards the sources name: Listeria monocytogenes in soft cheese made from unpasteurised milk.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

Mozzarella is commonly said to be named in a 1570 cookbook by Bartolomeo Scappi.

  1. [bufala-onaf] ONAF (Organizzazione Nazionale Assaggiatori Formaggi), Mozzarella di Bufala Campana DOP technical sheet, restating the PDO specificationother
  2. [provolone-onaf] ONAF (Organizzazione Nazionale Assaggiatori Formaggi), Provolone Valpadana DOP technical sheet, restating the PDO specificationother
  3. [levante2023] Levante A., Bertani G., Marrella M., Mucchetti G., Bernini V., Lazzi C., Neviani E. 2023, The microbiota of Mozzarella di Bufala Campana PDO cheese, a study across the manufacturing process, Frontiers in Microbiology 14:1196879paper
  4. [goncalves2021] Gonçalves M.C., Cardarelli H.R. 2021, Mozzarella cheese stretching, a minireview, Food Technology and Biotechnology 59(1):82–91paper
  5. [bittante2022] Bittante G., Amalfitano N., Cipolat-Gotet C. et al. 2022, Major causes of variation of external appearance, chemical composition, texture, and color traits of 37 categories of cheeses, Foods 11:4041paper
  6. [nhs-preg] NHS (UK), Foods to avoid in pregnancy (cheese section)gov