How Italy’s Biggest Mozzarella Balls Are Made | Regional Eats

Caseificio La Fattoria in Battipaglia, in the Campania region of southern Italy, makes fresh mozzarella with buffalo milk that can weigh up to 88 lbs. The dairy makes the mozzarella in a variety of shapes and sizes, but its brightest star is called Zizzona, which takes its name from a word in the local dialect that means 'a mother's breast.'

"The Zizzona of Battipaglia is a very big buffalo mozzarella," Production Manager Gennaro Paraggio told INSIDER.

"The peculiarity of it is that there is a nipple on top of the mozzarella which reminds of a mother's breast because it releases milk. The name Zizzona comes from a word in our local dialect which means 'a mother's breast' that releases milk."

Caseificio La Fattoria was established in 1988 by the Paraggio family to honor a generations-old tradition started in 1930. Overall, the dairy makes over 9 tons of mozzarella a day, 4,000 of which are Zizzonas.

"The Zizzona is made so that the dough inside is solid, strong, but it also has to have a web-like structure," said Paraggio. "This means it has to be able to hold milk inside. The same milk that is used during production. So that when you cut it open, the plate is filled with milk, and when you eat it, your mouth is filled with fresh milk as well."

During our visit to the dairy, we saw how a 66-pound Zizzona is made.