For Girls on Wheels, cheese, wine, and friends must be aged to be good!
Vicki Baker
Love comes in many forms: shredded, grated, sliced, or melted! We’re talking cheese, of course! Fortunately, we Texans can get some of the finest cheeses right here at home. For decades, the Mozzarella Company (MozzCo) has been producing some of the best, most flavorful cheeses west of the Atlantic.
Paula Lambert, the original mastermind behind MozzCo, fell in love with fresh mozzarella in Italy and brought the art of cheesemaking home to Dallas. Since 1982 she has made award-winning cheeses the old-fashioned way—by hand. Named one of the “Top 50 Cheesemakers in America” by Food & Wine magazine, she now produces more than 30 artisanal cheeses.
Getting in touch with our cheesy side, Girls on Wheels (Karen Dipietro, Vicki Baker, Susan Hebert, and Cassie Richardson) enrolled in MozzCo’s hands-on cheesemaking class. Upon arrival, we donned the requisite aprons and hairnets. After snapping a few selfies of our “lunch lady” look, phones were put away, hands were washed, and instructions were given.
Class started with the history of MozzCo, followed by a behind-the-scenes tour of the working kitchen and factory. Afterwards, we manned our workstations and began our cheesemaking endeavor. First off, we learned to make fresh ricotta with raw milk (cow or goat). Stepping up to the industrial-sized cooker, we scooped out ladles full of watery ricotta, then placed it into a plastic basket where this cottage cheese-looking mass cooled and dried.
Next, we made mozzarella balls by stirring a block of curds in hot water, draining it, then stretching it into a “satiny mass.” The cheese was pushed up through our fists, twisted and pinched off, and tossed into cold water to firm up.
Successful so far, the next task, making string cheese. This time, instead of forming a ball shape, we pulled and stretched the mozzarella until the cheese resembled taffy—a long, narrow, ribbon-like strip. The “ribbon” was salted, and fresh lime juice was squeezed over its length before rolling it up like a ball of yarn. Voila! String cheese ball, or queso Oaxaca.
Lastly, we made an olive-stuffed mozzarella roll. After pulling and stretching, we patted the cheese out flat, like pizza dough. A layer of chopped olives was spread evenly over the cheese before rolling it into a compact log form, then tightly wrapped in plastic wrap and chilled.
The class concluded with a Wine and Cheese Tasting with plates of MozzCo’s specialty, award-winning, fresh, and aged cheeses, along with breads and wines. We tried Queso Blanco, Hoja Santa (wrapped in a leaf, giving it a mint and sassafras taste), Herb Goat Cheese Log, Deep Ellum Blue (a favorite, for sure!), Dolce Habanero (apricot and habanero), Caciotta la Cocina (with all types of herbs from “the kitchen”)—16 varieties in all.
Yep, you can teach an old dog a new trick! Girls on Wheels rolled up our sleeves and turned curds into delicious, fresh mozzarella cheese. But before collecting all the cheeses we had made, we posed for a class photo, emphatically shouting out, Cheese!