Caseificio Piandelmedico mozzarella

Food lovers are aware that buffalo mozzarella comes from southern Italy; what I hadn’t appreciated is there are buffalo herds all over Italy. The cheese produced doesn’t have the DOP certification and southern Italians will tell you that mozzarella from anywhere else is a pale imitation, but there is something to be said for buying made-that-day , never been chilled mozzarella, which hasn’t been trucked up from Naples. And that is what I’m able to do thanks to the Caseificio Piandelmedico near Jesi.

It is excellent farm shop selling the cheeses and yoghurt made in the dairy behind the counter. The Trionfi Honorati who own and manage the shop also have a family farm with buffalo as well as cows. They make around 30 different types of fresh and aged cheeses and you can also buy  free range eggs, olive oil and other store cupboard products produced by their friends in the area. You can also order beef, in 10kg portions – it’s a mixture of the animal (you cannot ask for 10kg of fillet for example) labelled according to suggested use – fry/stew/roast. In summer there’s an ice cream counter.

Julia, the daughter who runs the set up, is usually to be found behind the counter and she speaks excellent English having spent 10 years living in London.