Impossible to Confuse
Mozzarella Traditional Specialty Guaranteed (STG) is a fresh, stretched-curd, soft cheese with a spheroidal shape.
It has a tender skin, a smooth, shiny, homogeneous surface, and a milky white color. The curd is layered, and when cut or lightly pressed, it releases that typical milky drop, a sign of unique freshness.
The STG label is a European Union recognition that protects the specific characteristics of a product or a traditional production method. Voluntarily adhering to the STG regulations guarantees consumers respect for tradition and a product of certified quality.
Mozzarella Traditional Specialty Guaranteed (STG) is made from fresh whole milk, rennet, and salt.
The ingredients are: fresh milk, salt, rennet, and live lactic cultures.
No food additives or technological aids, such as citric acid—which is widely used in the dairy industry to speed up processing—are employed.
A slow, natural fermentation of at least four hours is carried out using natural whey starter cultures.
The resulting mozzarella, produced in compliance with the production regulations, has a fragrant and delicate milky aroma enriched with light acidic notes, a fresh flavor, and a soft and elastic texture.
The Secret? Natural Whey Starter!
What makes Mozzarella a Traditional Specialty Guaranteed (STG) is the use of fresh milk and the natural whey starter culture used in the cheesemaking process. This culture is prepared in the dairy using the same milk used for mozzarella production. In addition to these specific ingredients, the traditional processing method is followed, respecting the longer curd maturation times, which are much longer than the industrial method that uses citric acid instead of whey starter.
The Assurance of a Process Controlled by the European Union
Verifying the preparation of the natural whey starter is just the first step in the series of controls to which producers voluntarily submit. This is followed by the analysis of samples to verify the organoleptic, chemical, and microbiological qualities of the Mozzarella, which will only then be recognized as a Traditional Specialty Guaranteed product and packaged according to protocol.
A Key Ingredient of True Neapolitan Pizza
The history of mozzarella is closely tied to that of pizza, a dish that appeared in Mediterranean culture as early as the 18th century and became famous a century later, when Raffaele Esposito of the Brandi pizzeria in Naples dedicated it—due to its colors, the red of the tomato, the white of the mozzarella, and the green of the basil—to Queen Margherita of Savoy (1889).
Today, “Neapolitan Pizza” is a Traditional Specialty Guaranteed (STG) with its own regulations and has been recognized as such by the European Commission since 2010.
The regulations state that one of the toppings that can be used for its preparation is Mozzarella Traditional Specialty Guaranteed (STG), which will appear as “more or less close patches […] melted on the surface,” not burnt and without excess water.
This, then, is the secret to the success of a world-famous pizza.
Iniziativa realizzata nell’Ambito del Progetto aggregato presentato da A.T.I. per la promozione della Mozzarella STG e della Casatella Trevigiana DOP.
