I hope I live long enough to see American-made water buffalo cheese at every cheese counter, but it’s not looking good. One step forward, two steps back. Someone starts a water buffalo dairy, another fails. I dream of homegrown mozzarella di bufala, of course. But Italian cheesemakers do so much more with this super-rich milk. The gorgeous, slumpy cheese pictured above demonstrates what water buffalo milk can do in skilled hands. Will we ever get there?
Read moreBella Mozzarella
Mozzarella consumption plummets once tomato season ends, but not at my house. I love mozzarella with roasted sweet peppers and, in winter, with cooked greens. This summer, a buffalo-milk mozzarella from Colombia caught my eye. It took a blue ribbon at the American Cheese Society judging, and I realized I’d been seeing the brand around but hadn’t tried it. The Colombian co-founder of Būf Creamery told me the company’s origin story—there’s a Cornell connection—and confirmed its head-spinning growth.
Read moreBuffalo Stampede
You’re not imagining it. Buffalo are roaming all over American cheese counters these days. Buffalo ricotta, mozzarella, Camembert, blue. I haven’t spotted a buffalo Cheddar yet, but surely any day now. From a curiosity to (almost) mainstream in a decade, cheese made with rich water-buffalo milk is having its moment. Many are good; a few are great.
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