A Whey With Curds
Sydney Morning Herald
Tuesday April 15, 2008
Australia adapts an Italian tradition, writes Helen Greenwood.
IT'S a mozzarella miracle. Last week, mozzarella cheese made from Queensland buffalo's milk went on sale at Paesanella's white-tiled shop in Haberfield. Max Somma has finally realised his dream of making the traditional, southern Italian-style stretched curd cheese in Sydney. The breakthrough could not be more timely. His Marrickville-made Paesanella mozzarella goes on sale as Italian-made mozzarella faces a crisis.Last month a recall of products from 25 Italian companies was initiated and 83 buffalo farms in the south of the country were quarantined after cheese was found to be carrying higher than legal limits of dioxin. Tests are now being carried out for cancer-causing toxins. For mozzarella fanciers in this country, the future looks good. Paesanella, the company well-known for its ricotta, has become the third manufacturer in Australia to make mozzarella from local buffalo's milk - and the first in Sydney. There's Shaw River, which has its own buffalo herd and, most recently, Vanella Dairy (see box). Four years ago, Somma contacted the Australian Dairy Buffalo Company in Queensland wanting milk supplies. No luck. At that time, the farm was making its own cheese and had no surplus.So Paesanella Cheese, the family company owned by Somma, his brother, Joe, and mother, Teresa, negotiated for a permit to air-freight buffalo mozzarella from Italy. The imported stretched fresh curd cheese sold well even though it was three weeks old. Traditionally, buffalo mozzarella in Italy is eaten the day it is made - more than a day old and the cheese is sent off to the pizzeria for topping. For Somma, importing mozzarella still wasn't the answer. So he flew to Italy late last year to find out more. He went to Naples and nearby Battipaglia, which specialise in buffalo mozzarella and are where his parents came from. He spent time in the cheese factory and decided that flying frozen buffalo's milk into Australia was the way to go. He returned to Sydney and then a call came from Brigitte Humphries, a director of the Australian Dairy Buffalo Company. The dairy was no longer making its own cheese and now had surplus milk. Did Somma still want it? Did he what? He got on the phone and talked to Luca De Rosa, a technical manager for the Italian company, Clerici-Sacco, whom he'd met in Italy. De Rosa also travels the world, from Armenia to India, as a mozzarella troubleshooter. He flew to Sydney, from Dubai, before Easter and told Paesanella the Queensland milk was some of the best he had ever seen. The expert was accustomed to milk with between 7.8 and 8 per cent milk fat - cow's milk is 3 to 4 per cent - but this batch was 9.8 per cent. With its high fat content and unusual chemical structure (smaller fat globules than in cow's milk), buffalo's milk has a unique composition. "You can't teach yourself how to make mozzarella," Somma says. "You need the right culture to create the acidity. Even the brine is a formula."It took them three batches before they were happy. You can understand Somma's obsession when you break through the smooth, glossy surface into the fine, milky curd. You would think this delicate, fragile fresh curd would taste fattier than cow's milk cheeses but it doesn't. It is less grassy, less earthy, more floral. It is also a pure, brilliant white because the buffalo convert the carotene into vitamin A, removing any hint of colour.At this stage, Paesanella is taking delivery of 300 litres of buffalo's milk once a week, which produces 70 kilograms of mozzarella. Somma is making a slightly firmer curd to give it a 12-day shelf life."After a week, the skin softens, so let it settle at room temperature and it will stiffen up and carve nicely. My aim is to make a traditional mozzarella that is eaten on the day, soft and full of milk." He's also making buffalo's milk ricotta and plans to make scamorza, another stretched curd cheese. "You know the saying," Somma says. "A good milk makes a good cheese."Paesanella buffalo mozzarella is sold at Paesanella Latticini Cremeria, Haberfield (9799 8483) and Paesanella Cheese, Marrickville (9519 6181).
© 2008 Sydney Morning Herald