Step-by-step guide to making mozzarella

Some of Italy's most fertile regions are in the south of the country, namely Puglia and Calabria, respectively the heel and toe of the boot.

Puglia is known as Italy's garden of eden, nuturing ancient olive trees which produce the largest quantities of olive oil in Italy and account for 15 per cent of global production.

Next door in Calabria, fruit and vegetables are its crowning glory and its plains are awash with the colours of the Mediterranean; rich red tomatoes, deep purple aubergines, tricolour peppers and green broccoli. In its mountainous areas, pigs are reared for pork meat which is made into traditional salami, while by the sea swordfish is the local delicacy.

But one of the more readily eaten products common to both these regions is mozzarella cheese

While the origins of mozzarella are sketchy, Carluccio's food expert Valentina D'Aprile said it is believed to have come about by accident when someone poured boiling water on some milk which had been left out in the hot southern Italian sun.

"The milk became stringy and they realised there was potential to make it into cheese," she said.

"In Puglia, mozzarella is considered a comfort food. We have it with almost every meal, like some places serve bread with a meal. It's also a staple for when we don't know what to cook. We know we can always serve up mozzarella."

Until the days of refrigeration, mozzarella was relatively unobtainable outside the southern regions of Italy as its sensitivity to temperature meant it had to be made and eaten within a short period of time, rendering transportation out of the question.

Traditionally the cheese was made from buffalo milk - mozzarella di buffalo - but today mozzarella is also made from cows' milk.

This has caused some controversy among cheese artisans who believe if it is not made from buffalo milk it should not carry the mozzarella label and so they prefer to distinguish between the two by referring to that made from cows' milk as fior di latte.

Buffalo mozzarella also differs from cows' milk mozzarella via the level of fat it contains.

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