I polished off a rare treat with last night’s dinner: lovely, golden raw-milk mozzarella lightly broiled on baguette halves and topped with a few Oregon black truffle shavings.
Unlike the rubbery, tasteless mozzarellas sold in stores, this one was creamy with that grassy flavor evident in really, really good butter. The cheese’s superior qualities are even more pronounced when it hasn’t been melted.
No, you can’t replicate this treat without a source for raw-milk mozzarella, which is not approved for commercial sale because it isn’t aged. But I would strongly encourage you to network and try to secure your own source. Because it’s practically forbidden, raw-milk cheese is all the more delicious.
This particular batch came from a local farm through a friend of a friend. And to prevent any harm to the farm, the friend of a friend and her business must remain anonymous. I know this sounds like bootlegging. Maybe that’s why die-hard foodies are so tickled to uncover an exclusive, artisinal product like this. (Think speak-easy at your local farmers market.)
The friend of a friend isn’t technically doing anything illegal. She’s complying — as far as I’m aware — with a “small farm exception” that allows farmers who only have two producing dairy cows to sell raw milk, from those cows only, on their property. Another reason why I can’t disclose the farmer’s name is because it could be construed as advertising, from which these small, raw milk-selling farms are prohibited.
Blame lobbyists for the state’s dairy industry. Commercial sales of raw milk were legal, according to my research, until 1999 when the legislature changed the law to require pasteurization. It was met with plenty of critics who accuse government of constructing regulations under the guise of food safety that only serve to diminish overall quality and dumb down our food.
Now we’re up against the Food Safety Modernization Act, which by all accounts, stands to impose yet more regulations that would be difficult for organic, family farms to meet. Increased inspections and certifications likely would add more to the price of food.
You don’t have to buy into all the hysteria spread by opponents of this bill to be skeptical of government’s ability to improve food safety. Hello, recalls! I prefer to know and trust my food producers, like my friend of a friend, take the product from her hands, look her in the eyes and know it’s safe.
I’m curious to know what other people think. Do we need more government regulations or just some common sense?
