Whole Foods "made in house" mozzarella

[Bill/SFNM]

I hadn't seen this before: Whole Foods "Fresh Hand Stretched Mozzarella - Made in House".

Obviously, they are getting in bulk curds and just heating and stretching them. Gave it a try today and was NOT impressed:

 - no flavor
 - shedding water and falling apart  at room temp (probably not heated and stretched enough)
 - expensive ($8.99) for such low quality

I didn't dare put it on a pizza. For fresh mozzarella, I'll stick with Alleva. Even frozen and thawed, its 10 times better than this junk.

OTOH, tried some Niman Ranch Sweet Italian Sausage. It was perfect for a pizza topping.

Bill/SFNM

[Pete-zza]

Bill,

I had somewhat the same experience with the "in-house" fresh mozzarella cheese made by Central Market, a very high end food store in Dallas. I watched some of the workers actually make the cheese, and a fairly decent crowd formed around them. It was good PR but the cheese was overly mild. I used most of it fresh as a Caprese.

Peter

[Bill/SFNM]

Peter,

Have you tried the fresh mozzarella from Alleva Dairy? Unfortunately, I've run out and am reluctant to order with this heat. My last order from them had barely enough coolant and insulation to keep it cool - and that was back when the weather was much colder. The fresh ones at the local stores just don't seem to hold up under 900F temps.

TJ's has a mixture of 4 low-moisture shredded cheeses:  parm, asiago, fontina, and provolone. They were giving out free samples of pies made with their pizza dough (bleep*) and topped with their sauce (bleeping bleep*) and this cheese which was very good. 

Bill/SFNM

The bleeps are from watching Gordon Ramsay too much.

[Pete-zza]

Bill,

Actually I have tried the Alleva fresh mozzarella. It was during a visit to NYC with my son and his family and we bought some of the Alleva mozzarella back to our hotel suite, along with some nice olive oil and tomatoes and some fresh baked bread. With some wine, it made for a great appetizer before heading out to a nice restaurant for dinner. I have been buying things from Alleva for years, just about every time I am in NYC.

Peter

[pizza king]

I wanted to know if you every tried grande for your fresh mozzarella... as well because i was talking to the guy where i buy the grande for my cheese pies and he suggested buying fresh grande mozzarella.

Another note have you ever tried the imported Oven/microwave pizza from Trader Joes ...not that a someone that claims to be a pizza Connoisseur should eat microwave pizza.. but none the less it was something I would eat again. 

[varasano]

3 of the last 4 batches of fresh mozz from whole foods where straight up rancid. They put these ridiculous sell dates, like it's good for 3 weeks, when it should be 3 days.

Also, even when its fresh, it's not tight and it tends to disintegrate at my high heat.