Bocconcini

What is Bocconcini Cheese?

Bocconcini are a small format of mozzarella, the semi-soft unaged cheese with a long history in southern Italy. The precise origins of mozzarella are uncertain, and the word itself comes from mozza, meaning cut, or mozzare, to cut off, after the way portions of stretched curd are separated. The name bocconcini means small mouthful. They are also called uova di bufala, buffalo eggs.

Production follows the pasta filata method. The curd is cut into pieces about 1 to 1.5 cm (3/8 to 5/8 in), stirred and heated so the whey separates, then drained and pressed into a solid mass. Once the pH falls to around 5.2 to 5.5 the paste can be stretched. The cheesemaker kneads it by hand until it is smooth and shiny, pulls out a strand and lops it off to form each ball.

Bocconcini are roughly bite-sized, between cherry-sized ciliegine and egg-sized ovolini. Fresh mozzarella is generally white, though it can be light yellow depending on what the animal has eaten, and it squeaks when chewed. The balls are spongy and absorb flavours. Kept too long, the cheese turns sour and softens, more slowly in larger sizes.

Bocconcini of water buffalo's milk are still made in the provinces of Naples, Caserta and Salerno as bocconcini alla panna di bufala, which mixes freshly made mozzarella di bufala campana PDO with fresh cream. A bocconcino di bufala campana PDO also exists, simply the PDO mozzarella in egg-sized format.

A common use is alternating them with cherry tomatoes on a skewer as an appetiser. Mozzarella in general goes on most kinds of pizza and into several pasta dishes, or is served with sliced tomatoes and basil in Caprese salad. Because of the high moisture content the cheese is stored soaked in salt water or whey.