A cheese making experience at Azienda Rotiroti, Calabria.
This one is not for the lactose intolerant.
Recently, Pasta Grannies were invited to visit Azienda Rotiroti in Cardinale as part of the Calabria food festival where we learned how to make mozzarella and ricotta at a farm in the southeastern side of Calabria. Off a cobbled single track road, stopped only by the mountain traffic jam of passing sheep, we arrived at the terracotta farmhouse surrounded by fields of trees and peaceful verdigris. Passing the rabbits, the farm’s aptly colour-coordinated ape, we were greeted kindly by the team of caseifici.
The morning began by watching a demonstration of mozzarella and ricotta (with taste tests, obviously) as well as our own chance to get our hands milky before we sat down for lunch in their al fresco dining spot. The outdoor dining room has been built around a central oak tree; you sit at long family-style tables; the roots of the earth and the origins of food surrounding you.

Alongside the bocconcini di mozzarella demonstration, we watched a demonstration of a maialino (a piglet) similar to this cheese horse. The mozzarella needs to be incredibly hot so that the skin is stretched into the correct shape, before then plunged into cool water. These guys have the most robust skin! They use only the cool water intermittently as a form of protection for their hands. Once the cheese produce is malleable enough, they plait and shape the structures into balls before plunging into cold water to set the shape as what we know as mozzarella. The liquid it stays keeps it moist and to keep the milky, juicy, salty flavour.

The farm has many animals, including many tiny kittens who like to chew on the rind of the cheeses! Livia, as our in-house cat lover adored them. And even me, who is less of a cat fan, was utterly besotted with them. I even fed them my leftovers when I’d reached my cheese limit!

The interesting thing about both cheeses: we assume they should be eaten refrigerated, because that’s how we are used to eating them from the supermarket at home! However the real fresca stuff is often at ambient temperature because it’s been made on the farm and eaten within hours, if not minutes after being made. We tasted the ricotta we made straight from the mold — straight from hand into mouth (and in my case all down my front).

And, of course like always, we got chatting to those in their nineties nearby. Livia had a lovely little interview with Nicola, the shepherd and owner of the farm, his father and their fathers have had sheep and goats since their family can remember. He spends his afternoons on the porch with his friend and the grondano who nowadays is shepherd and likes to help out around the farm.
The Azienda Rotiroti run cheese making experiences for visitors, but since this is a working farm you’ll need to book in advance to make sure they can make sure you’re available. With special thanks to Calabria Food Festival who organised this visit for us. If you’re intrigued, and you want a full video on the cheese production process, then make sure you head you review our videos on Ricotta Production and Formaggio grigio too.