Shaping the Mozzarella

Mozzarella di Bufala Production

Our team in the back is shaping the mozzarella balls. The man on the right uses both hands to tear a portion from the larger cheese, which he shapes into a ball. The man on the left continually shapes the larger cheese into a ball, from which the smaller balls are made. It’s all by hand.

The term Mozzarella is derived from the Neapolitan dialect spoken in Campania, and is a form of mozza (“cut”), or mozzare (“to cut off”). This refers to the way the strands of cheese are pushed through the cheese maker’s hand into a ball and then squeezed and broken off (cut) from the main cheese body.