Stretched-curd cheeses
Mozzarella, provolone, kashkaval, Oaxaca and sulguni: curd heated and pulled into strands.
Pasta filata, Italian for spun paste, is the family of cheeses whose curd is soaked in hot water or whey and then stretched and kneaded until it runs into long, glossy fibres. The method gives mozzarella its spring, provolone its shape and string cheese its strings. It reaches from southern Italy through the Balkans and the Caucasus to Mexico, where Oaxaca cheese is wound like a ball of yarn.
How the stretch works
The curd is first left to sour until its structure changes, so that it will stretch rather than crumble when heated. Cheesemakers test a small piece in hot water to see when it is ready. The curd is then cut, covered with very hot water and worked by hand or by machine until it is smooth and shiny. The proteins line up into fibres, which is why these cheeses tear in strands and melt in long threads. The hot paste is shaped into balls, braids, pears or logs, cooled in water and salted in brine.
Fresh and aged
Some are eaten within days: mozzarella, burrata, which is a mozzarella pouch filled with cream and shreds of curd, and small bocconcini. Others are aged for months. Provolone and caciocavallo hang in pairs from a cord tied round their necks, and one of several stories about the name caciocavallo, horse cheese, says it comes from hanging them astride a pole as if on horseback. Kashkaval of the Balkans is a firm yellow table cheese, and scamorza is often smoked.
Beyond Italy
Georgia's sulguni is stretched and brined, then melted into khachapuri. Armenia's chechil is pulled into thin ropes and wound into braids, and Syria's mshallaleh is braided in the same way. Turkey makes dil peyniri, tongue cheese, which pulls apart in strips. Mexico's Oaxaca cheese, also called quesillo, is stretched into a long ribbon and rolled into a ball for quesadillas. String cheese in North America is mozzarella pulled into sticks that peel into threads.
Worth knowing
- Mozzarella: The fresh stretched curd of pizza and caprese
- Buffalo mozzarella: Protected buffalo-milk mozzarella of Campania
- Burrata: Mozzarella pouch filled with cream and curd, from Apulia
- Provolone: Aged, hung stretched curd, mild dolce or sharp piccante
- Caciocavallo: Teardrop-shaped cheese of southern Italy
- Kashkaval: Yellow table cheese of the Balkans
- Sulguni: Georgian brined stretched curd for khachapuri
- Oaxaca cheese: Mexican ribbon cheese wound into a ball
Good to know
- Keep fresh mozzarella in its liquid and eat it within a few days, at room temperature.
- Tear fresh mozzarella for salads rather than slicing it.
- Drain or pat fresh mozzarella dry before it goes on a pizza, so the base stays crisp.
- Aged provolone and caciocavallo keep for weeks wrapped in paper.
Sources and further reading
- List of stretch-curd cheeses on Wikipedia
- Mozzarella, Wikipedia
- Oaxaca cheese, Wikipedia
- Caciocavallo, Wikipedia
Original text by the EveryCheese desk, written with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. Customs are described as tradition, not as advice. If we have something wrong, tell us.
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