# Buffalo Mozzarella?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffalo-mozzarella/94835>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 23, 2001, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffalo-mozzarella/94835 "2001-11-23T01:42:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![bmerton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/34f0e0/32.png) [@bmerton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bmerton)\
**Post date:** [November 23, 2001, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffalo-mozzarella/94835/1 "2001-11-23T01:42:00Z")

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Where are all the buffalo’s in Italy? How come this type of cheese is considered so Italian?

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**Author:** ![Earthling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/90db22/32.png) [@Earthling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthling)\
**Post date:** [November 23, 2001, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffalo-mozzarella/94835/2 "2001-11-23T01:53:17Z")

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From the [Epicurious Dictionary](http://www.epicurious.com/run/fooddictionary/browse?entry_id=9218):

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> At one time, mozzarella was made only from the milk of water buffaloes…Most buffalo mozzarella available in the United States is made from a combination of water buffalo milk and cow’s milk.

Were you thinking of bison?

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**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\
**Post date:** [November 23, 2001, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffalo-mozzarella/94835/3 "2001-11-23T03:27:31Z")

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Well, I suppose if Buffalo’s got wings, then they might as well have “buffalo mozzarella” cheese.

**Dex** said

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> Mozzarella, a soft, fresh cheese traditionally made from the milk of water buffalo, originated in 15th century Naples. Mozzarella nowadays is made from cow’s milk. You can still find buffalo-cheese (or a blend of buffalo and cow cheese) in Salerno, but it’s too expensive and delicate for pizza topping, we’re told.

[here](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mpizza.html)

Water buffalo evidently arrived in Europe sometime after 600 A.D.

Yeah, it surprised me too.

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**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\
**Post date:** [November 23, 2001, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buffalo-mozzarella/94835/4 "2001-11-23T08:27:20Z")

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Some different bovines:  
European bison (bison bosanus) and American buffalo (bison bison) are closely related and in fact the American bison association is trying to get people to call American buffalos “bison” to avoid confusion with Asiatic buffalo.

Domesticated water buffalos are bubalus carabanensis (swamp buffalo, SE Asia) and bubalus bubalus (river buffalo, India). The Italian domesticated buffalo are of the river variety.

Bison can interbreed with cattle, and buffalo cannot.

There is also a Cape Buffalo (Syncerus caffer).

I found much of this information at [this site](http://ww2.netnitco.net/users/djligda/wbfacts.htm#001).

The name buffalo is not Native American but Greek (boubalos).