Smoked mozzarella is a cheese traditionally made from buffalo milk, but most types are made from cow’s milk. It can be smoked using wood chips or liquid smoke and is used in a variety of savory dishes. Mozzarella is made by mixing milk curds in hot water and is not aged.
Smoked mozzarella is a type of smoke flavored cheese. Traditionally, mozzarella was made from buffalo milk. Since water buffalo is rare and only lives in a few countries, most types of smoked mozzarella are made from cow’s milk. There are mainly two methods for making smoked mozzarella; one method saturates the cheese with real smoke, while the other coats the surface of the cheese with liquid smoke. Smoked mozzarella can be used in a variety of savory dishes.
Mozzarella is made by mixing cow or buffalo milk curds in a tub of hot water. In some cases, whey is used instead of hot water. Kneading the curd, also called spinning or stringing, makes the resulting cheese elastic and smooth. After the mozzarella is made, it is shaped into a ball and cooled with cold water. Unlike other cheeses, mozzarella is not aged and takes only a few hours to make.
Once the mozzarella is made, it can be smoked in the producer’s house or at home. Smoked mozzarella can be made by placing the cheese in a chamber with smoked wood chips. There are generally two ways to smoke using wood chips, one hot and one cold. The cold method is preferable for making any type of smoked cheese.
If the cheese gets hotter than 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 degrees Celsius) during the smoking process, it can start to sweat or even melt. For best results, usually the smoked wood chips are in a separate chamber from the cheese itself. The smoke still reaches the cheese, but the heat is dissipated.
Another method of making smoked mozzarella does not involve wood chips or smoke. In some cases, the cheese will be painted on the outside with a liquid form of smoke. Other manufacturers may add liquid smoke flavoring to the milk before the mozzarella is made. While smoked mozzarella made in a smoker or by painting the outside with liquid smoke isn’t uniformly flavored, adding liquid smoke to the milk before making the cheese means that the entire piece of cheese will have a smoky flavor.
Smoked mozzarella can be used anywhere regular mozzarella is used if a smoky flavor is preferred. It goes well with first courses or pizza. Cheese also goes well with tomatoes and pesto in a sandwich.
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