Mozzarella, stracciatella and ricotta are each named after what is done to them.

Mozzarella comes from mozzare, to cut off: the cheesemaker pinches off a piece of pasta filata, the stretched curd, between thumb and forefinger. Stracciatella comes from stracciare, to tear, because it is mozzarella torn into rag-like shreds and steeped in cream. And ricotta means cooked again: it is made from the whey left over after cheesemaking, heated a second time.

At a wedding with the Mozzarella Bar by Caseus – L’arte del latte, you can tell the three apart from the very first bite. Mozzarella nodini come with all three packages; stracciatella and ricotta only with Smart and Premium.

Mozzarella: little knots, made on the spot

The milk is always Italian cow’s milk. It is turned into curd at the dairy closest to the wedding venue, and from there we bring the curd to the wedding in our own fridge. At the counter, the curd comes out of the fridge and the cheesemaker stretches it with boiling water and salt, right in front of your guests.

That’s where the nodini, little mozzarella knots, come from: the same curd as any mozzarella, just a different gesture. The cheesemaker draws the warm, elastic curd into a rope, ties it into a knot and pinches it off. Freshly made, a nodino has a glossy surface and gives a little resistance when you bite into it, then yields. Pull one open and you’ll see the fine layers left by the stretching. The flavour is delicate, with the slight tang you only get from really fresh mozzarella.

The Basic package is built around the nodini, served with tarallini (small, crisp ring-shaped crackers from southern Italy) and extra virgin olive oil: soft mozzarella against the crunch of the tarallini, with the oil bringing them together.

Stracciatella with grey mullet bottarga and lemon

Stracciatella has no shape of its own: it’s mozzarella torn into shreds and left to soak in cream. It’s silky in the mouth, though you can still feel the shreds, and much richer than a nodino.

So it needs two ingredients to keep it in check. Sardinian bottarga di muggine, the salted, pressed and dried roe sac of the grey mullet, brings a savoury taste of the sea that lingers. Grated lemon zest, usually from the Amalfi Coast or Sicily, adds fragrance and freshness and lightens the cream, which in turn softens the salt of the bottarga.

The stracciatella is made before the service begins, so only guests who arrive well ahead of time get to see it being prepared.

Ricotta with barrique-aged honey

Here the pairing goes the other way: honey instead of salt. It’s acacia honey, aged for nine months in barriques, French oak barrels, and it goes onto a ricotta that is already sweet in its own right.

Ricotta is the only one of the three that isn’t made from stretched curd. It comes from whey: when the whey is heated again, the proteins left in it rise to the surface as fine curds. Strictly speaking, Italians don’t class it as a cheese at all, and it has a texture all of its own: soft and very finely grained, nothing like the spring of a nodino or the creaminess of stracciatella. Its sweetness comes from the milk sugar left in the whey.

During the reception

Everything is served at the same time, from the same counter: the nodini and, depending on the package, the Smart stracciatella and ricotta, plus the Premium burratine. Meanwhile the cheesemaker keeps stretching the curd and answers anyone who asks; guests who just want to taste won’t end up listening to a lecture.

Premium adds a fourth taste: burratine, small burratas, with anchovies from the Cantabrian Sea, off Spain’s northern coast. The soft burratina and the rich, savoury depth of the anchovy pick up where the bottarga left off.

Basic, Smart or Premium: what’s included in each Mozzarella Bar package

If you’re still deciding what kind of food experience to bring to your wedding, our guide to choosing a wedding food experience without ending up with a standard food station is a good place to start. As for the packages:

• Basic: mozzarella nodini, tarallini and extra virgin olive oil.
• Smart: mozzarella nodini, stracciatella with grey mullet bottarga and lemon, and ricotta with barrique-aged honey.
• Premium: everything in Smart, plus burratine with Cantabrian anchovies.

If the aperitivo, the Italian take on the cocktail hour, already has plenty going on, Basic is enough: it’s all about the nodini and the cheesemaker’s hands. For the bottarga and the honey too, you need at least Smart; with Premium you taste everything, burratine included.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between mozzarella, stracciatella and ricotta?

At the Caseus Mozzarella Bar, the mozzarella comes as nodini: pasta filata drawn into a rope, knotted and pinched off by hand in front of the guests. Stracciatella is mozzarella torn into shreds and steeped in cream, so it is much creamier. Ricotta is not made from pasta filata but from whey, heated a second time: soft, very finely grained, sweet and delicate.

Are stracciatella and ricotta included in every Caseus Mozzarella Bar package?

No. Stracciatella with grey mullet bottarga and lemon, and ricotta with barrique-aged honey, are included in the Smart and Premium packages. The Basic package includes mozzarella nodini, tarallini and extra virgin olive oil.

Does the Caseus cheesemaker make the mozzarella from milk at the wedding?

No. The milk, always Italian cow’s milk, is turned into curd at the dairy closest to the venue, and the curd reaches the wedding in our own fridge. During the service, the cheesemaker works the curd with boiling water and salt to make the pasta filata (the stretched curd) and makes mozzarella nodini in front of your guests; the other products in your package are served from the same counter.

What does the Caseus Mozzarella Bar Premium package add to Smart?

Burratine with Cantabrian anchovies. Everything else is the same as Smart: mozzarella nodini, stracciatella with grey mullet bottarga and lemon, and ricotta with barrique-aged honey.

Does Caseus bring the Mozzarella Bar to weddings outside Italy?

Yes. Caseus works throughout Italy and across Europe. Within Italy the cost of the service is the same everywhere except the islands, where extra logistics costs are taken into account; for weddings abroad, additional costs for travel and the team’s stay are added.