Mozzarella nella mortella was created from the need to transport cheese from the mountains where we used to go to highland pastures during summer, mainly in the area of Monte di Novi Velia, the Gelbison. The custom was to make mozzarella in the shape of a cow's tongue, long and flat, with the same blend for caciocavallo cheese, and then to wrap it in mortella, myrtle leaves. At a time when refrigerators didn’t yet exist, this traditional smart system has the dual function of transportation and preservation. The myrtle serves as a natural protection and gives the cheese a unique flavor and fragrance as well. Over time, the myrtle-wrapped mozzarella became a product in its own right, a specific type among the many southern Italian stretched-curd kinds of cheese.
Where to find Mozzarella nella mortella
Today you can count on the fingers of one hand the remaining producers of mozzarella in the mortedda in Cilento in the Campania region, that said the tradition has not yet been completely abandoned.
There is Caseificio Le Starze, owned by the Di Bartolomeo family with Barbara, who has been a cheesemaker for a lifetime, and Mario, the son who is trying with anema and core [body and soul] together with Francesco Barrella to obtain the Slow Food Presidium as well as Nicola, who from a young age kept his clothes in his backpack instead of books to go to work there.
[Mozzarella in myrtle got the Slow Food Presidium]
Then there is Milla, which is another story. After a life in America, Angelo Guzzo has returned to live in Cilento for his friends at Milla, where at night he works as a bouncer in nightclubs and during the day he works the transhumance of his livestock - 30 free cows. His cheeses change along with the seasons and its grass, for example, in this period they are more yellow because they eat a lot of honeysuckle on the farm.
Finally, there is the Cicco di Buono Farm, a little closer to the sea, in San Nicola di Centola. Adolfo and his parents have been cheesemakers for 13 generations and captivate travelers with their stories of the past, when his grandmother used to wake up at dawn to go and sell mozzarella nella mortella and cacioricotta di capra in the city, between Naples and Salerno.
Recipe for muzzarella co 'a mortedda
Muzzarella co' a mortedda or indo a murtedda is perfect to eat on its own as an appetizer, or with a drizzle of oil. Due to its particular aromatic characteristics, combinations can often be difficult, yet Davide Mea of the Taverna del Mozzo in Marina di Camerota has managed to make an excellent recipe, super fresh and ideal for summer: hard bread with Menaica anchovies, confit cherry tomatoes, and, of course, mozzarella nella mortedda.
Ingredients:
100 gr frisella (twice-baked bread)
100 gr cherry tomatoes
2 salted anchovies of Menaica
1 mozzarella in the mortella
wild fennel seeds as required
EVOO Marsicani Cilento DOP
sugar, salt, and pepper to taste
basil, 4/5 leaves
thyme
Method:
Take the hard-bread friselle or similar, wet it, and break it into small pieces; add salt, oil, and fennel seeds, then spread it on baking paper and create a thin base by rolling it out with a rolling pin if necessary. Bake at 150 degrees (300° F) for 10 minutes until the mixture is free of water and crumbly.
Cut the tomatoes in half and spread them in a baking tray with sugar, salt, oil, and thyme, then bake for 1 hour at 70 degrees (160° F).
Rinse the anchovies under running water quickly to let the salt that covers them fall off, remove the bones, and obtain 4 fillets to put in a jar with a little EVOO.
Take the bread, chop it again leaving a few pieces wider to give a crunchy sensation, and make a strip on the serving plate 14 x 8 inches. Tear the mozzarella with your hands and start composing the dish on the strip created, alternating a small piece of mozzarella with anchovies, a cherry tomato, and a basil leaf on top.
Finish the dish with the mortella leaves and drizzle a little EVOO over the dish.