After trying this Mozzarella (yes, capital M !) you will never want that white cheese ball they call “mozzarella” at grocery stores anymore.
The last time I visited Napoli I spared a weekend just to drive to Caiazzo and try one of the best pizzas in Italy (probably in the world) at Pepe in Grani. The moment I tried their famous pizza margherita I realized that that mozzarella was different from anything else I have ever tried before. My next goal immediately became to meet the supplier of that wonderful mozzarella. According to Franco Pepe, a master cheese maker called Mimmo who owns a cheese factory called Casificio il Casolare 15 minutes away from Caiazzo.
As my next business meeting with a client was schedule to the afternoon of Monday, I decided to drive from my hotel in Caserta to Alvignano early in the morning and visit Caseificio il Casolare. It took me a bit longer than expected to cover the 22 km distance shown on the map. After two or three turns missed by my GPS, I finally got to the cheese factory. I parked my car and walked towards a glass door with a wooden sign hanging on top – which I presume was the reception. As soon as I entered through that door I heard someone welcoming me with a warm and enthusiastic “Buon Giorno!“. I was pretty much in their manufacturing seeing see six giant stainless-steel tanks full of mozzarella balls floating on the whey. A gentleman dressed in white approached me and kindly asked what I was interested in. I told him about Franco Pepe and, from that moment on, we became good friends. That gentleman was Mimmo.
During the next 30-45 minutes I had the opportunity to learn from Mimmo what a Bufala Campana PDO mozzarella (an Italian quality certification that the cheese is made with buffalo’s milk from certified dairy farms of specific traditional areas). I tried 4 kinds of mozzarella: small, large, smoked, and original. You eat mozzarella like a burger, holding it with your hands. As you bite milk comes running out of it. No worries, Mimmo will be there for you with a roll of paper towel. Since 1984 Caseificio il Casolare has been producing on a daily basis the mozzarela in Italy. Here on my blog you will find a post just about mozzarella.
Via Olivella, 12 – Alvignano https://www.caseificioilcasolare.it/en/ilcasolare/