Quick & Kosher Shopping

Cappiello Cheese

By: JAMIE GELLER

Q & A with Jamie Geller and Tim, Cappiello Expert

Q. Cappiello manufactures so many different cheese products and they all look so delicious.  I see that your products are divided into two different lines, commodity cheese and artisan cheese.  What’s the difference between the two?

A. Artisan cheese is made up of high end, upscale cheese products that can be used as ingredients in a larger dish or served on their own as a part of a cheese platter. These aren’t ingredient cheeses or everyday cheeses you would use in lasagna or on pizza. They are can be savored on their own.

Commodity cheese, on the other hand, are staples most people have in their kitchen, like mozzarella and ricotta. You know, stuff they use in everyday cooking as part of larger dish. Our commodity line includes regular mozzarella, fresh, unflavored mozzarella and ricotta cheese.

Q. What are some of the artisan cheeses Cappiello offers?

A. We make hand-braided fresh mozzarella in a variety of flavors like pesto, jalapeno and garlic.  We also offer marinated fresh mozzarella in the shape of medallions (they kind of look like silver dollars) and as cherry-sized cheese balls. These come in twenty flavors including olive fiesta, Tuscan Pepe and tomato basil.  What I love about these is that they are ready to use.  Just throw the whole thing—the cheese and brine—into a salad or on pizza as a specialty topping and you’re in for a real treat. 

In our capriccio line, fresh mozzarella squares are coated with flavorful dry rubs, which turn a typical ingredient cheese into a table or snacking cheese.

One of our most unique lines is the scamorza cheese because we are the only domestic manufacturer of this kind of product. We combine mozzarella and provolone cheese to create a product that has a sharper flavor than traditional fresh mozzarella but one that is not as overpowering as straight provolone.  It’s a beautiful marriage of two distinct cheeses.

Q. Wow, I’m getting hungry just talking to you! Everything sounds delicious.

A. Thanks, it really is.

Q. You mentioned that Cappiello makes ricotta cheese. I’ve always wondered what exactly is ricotta cheese?  Is it interchangeable with cottage cheese?

A. Ricotta is the Italian word for recooked milk. And that’s kind of what ricotta cheese is in a nutshell.

When you manufacture mozzarella, you get byproducts. When these byproducts are recooked with milk, they turn into ricotta cheese. Ricotta is typically used as a filler or flavoring cheese, something that can be spreadable, kind of like cream cheese in that sense.  It is similar to cottage cheese but it’s not interchangeable, even though they actually have the same health benefits.

Author Bio:

- JAMIE GELLER is a best selling author (Quick and Kosher Recipes from the Bride Who Knew Nothing, 2007), an internationally syndicated food and lifestyle columnist, an award-winning television producer, a motivational speaker, and the host of popular Internet cooking shows “Quick & Kosher” and “Simply Kosher.” - Read more...