Cheese Database

Mozzarella vs Pizza cheese

Mozzarella, field guide plate
Mozzarella, photographed

Mozzarella

Facts

Milk
Cow
Texture
Fresh
Type
Stretched curd
Rind
No rind
Country
Italy
Place
Southern Italy

Mozzarella is a stretched-curd cheese. The cow's-milk cheese is fior di latte. Mozzarella di Bufala Campana is a separate cheese, made from water buffalo milk, when it carries that protected name.

Pizza cheese

Facts

Texture
Semi-soft
Rind
No rind
Country
United States

Pizza cheese is a commercial category from the United States, made to melt, stretch, and brown on a pizza. The name covers more than one product. The usual form is a drier stretched-curd cheese in the manner of mozzarella, sold in blocks or shreds. Some versions are blends, and some are processed products built only for the oven. It is not a farmhouse wheel from one valley, and factories design it for pizzerias and for frozen pies.