Campania Bufala Thrill

If you've never tasted real mozzorella di bufala, which is untainted by cow's milk, put on your life list of sensory experiences. Water buffalo milk contains up to three times the fat of milk from other bovines, which makes for a densely flavored cheese with a texture that's as light as sponge cake. "Like eating flowers," says one devotee we know. The cantankerous beasts graze on farms throughout the sunny south central plains of Campania. The fresh milk then travels to cheesemakers in Naples and Salerno.

The highly perishable cheese is best eaten within a few days of milking, and thanks to Lion Latticini of Brooklyn, New York, you can do just that. The company's brine-packed bufala (about $13 per pound) is made in Naples each Monday, arrives in New York City the following night, and can be on your table by Wednesday, reposing under basil fronds with a slab of summer tomato. Call 800/528-3252.

- Diversion Magazine, Food News
May 1999