Making a Caprese is very simple, but relies entirely on the quality of each of the ingredients. One of the main ingredients is mozzarella, and you need the best. Imported directly from Campania every two weeks, these stretched curd cheeses from La Baronia embody the purity and goodness of buffalo milk. It is this fertile pasture, rich in wetland species, that gives the milk its delicate taste and unique aroma. The Cutillo family started La Baronia 30 years ago. They began by researching the working methods of the buffalo dairymen, practices that had been handed down since the 8th Century, when buffalos first arrived in Campania. Animal husbandry is everything to the family. To keep the buffalo happy and healthy in the hot summer climate, the animals “swim” several times a day in large water pools. How cool is that?

The fresh, stretched curd cheese is composed of very thin layers. It is yielding in texture, porcelain-white in colour and has a slightly sour taste. It is thought that mozzarella takes its name from the verb mozzare, meaning ‘to cut’ referring to the way that the cheese makers cut each ball by hand from the large mass of stretchy curd formed when the cheese is immersed in hot water and kneaded by hand.