How Italy’s Biggest Mozzarella Balls Are Made | Regional Eats

Hi guys, this is Claudia and today I'm in Battipaglia in the Campania region in South Italy where I'm gonna see how they make the world's biggest mozzarella. In this dairy they have made 20-30 kilo mozzarella that is like way way more than the average one. As a southern Italian my favorite food is definitely mozzarella. Forget pasta, pizza and all those things that are sold all over the world as like typical Italian things, mozzarella is the real deal. So I'm really curious to see how these massive ones are made. Let's go check it out. Some say that the Campania region is the birthplace of mozzarella. The name even comes from the local dialect mozzare which means cutting by hand. Mozzarella from this Italian region is made with buffalo milk and this dairy makes it in a variety of shapes and sizes. Its brightest star? This one called zizzona. Cassificio La Fattoria was established in 1988 by the Paraggio family to honor a generation-old tradition started in 1930. Overall the dairy makes over 9 tons of mozzarella a day, 4,000 of which are zizzonas. And now the main event, it's time to see how a 66 pound zizzona is made. Mozzarella production at the dairy starts early at about 3am when milk comes in from the farm. Whey is drained from milk to get these blocks of curd which in Italian is called cagliata. The curd is cut into smaller pieces and is placed into this machine which will cook it at about 96 degrees Celsius, that's about 204 degrees Fahrenheit. This stretchy dough that comes out is now ready to be turned into mozzarella. The machine, I'm just going to give it a bite, it's so good, like actually it's very warm. As you can see the dough is kneaded in a few smaller formats but we're not interested in those. Yes, that's right, this is what we're all here for. So the big stuff, when the curd is ready it takes two workers to knead it and transfer it to a pool of salty water. Because of its size the giant zizzona has to bathe in the pool for a bit to make sure that the curd holds together perfectly so when it's ready to be lifted it comes out like this. Here you go, 30 kilos, that's a whopping 66 pounds. When a giant zizzona is born the team at the dairy will for sure not keep that a secret, they will pose next to it for a photo. I couldn't resist either. If you're worried about food waste, fear not. These giant-sized mozzarellas are only made bespoke for big events, big dinners or those sorts of events where everybody comes in hungry for cheese. You might have also noticed that the workers aren't wearing gloves, here's why. The gloves would make us lose the sensitivity of our hands, the touch, which would allow us to shape the mozzarellas, the curds and the zizzona in the most correct way. We work at a temperature, the pasta is cooked at a temperature of about 96°C, so our hands are constantly working at a temperature of 80-85°C, so there's no risk of contamination. The giant zizzona is incredibly popular on social media. The dairy has realized this and made the most of it. Its Instagram is filled with videos of fresh mozzarella. The platform is also used to run contests, competitions and to sell products directly to customers. It's a more authentic, more real way of doing things, because all the marketing agencies are competing, so it's not the kind of advertising you see on the table, but it's an advertising that is done with the same craftsmanship that you use to work on the product. We go into the working rooms with our mobile phones, we record the real employees who are working, so we can take a photo or a video of what's really happening inside our company. For us, who are tied to a tradition and a familiarity during work, this is very important. So far it's been a beautiful day, the sun is shining and there is a giant mozzarella statue behind me. I've seen a 30 kilo mozzarella come to life. It was absolutely incredible. I've never seen anything like this in my life. It took two people to lift it and the moment they cut it open it released so much milk that I had to just like take a step back. What do you think of the 66 pound mozzarella? Would you have one bespoke for your next big dinner or for your birthday? I for sure would prefer this to a birthday cake. Let us know in the comments below.