Why is it called Mozzarella cheese?

Why is it called Mozzarella cheese?

Cheese for making pizza!

Usually cheese is named after a place, but this is not a strict rule. Mozzarella is not the name of any place in Italy. Mozzare means “to cut”. If you still remember the post about how to make cheese, after mixing milk with enzymes, the milk separates into a solid part (called curd) and a liquid part (whey). When making mozzarella, the cheesemaker cuts (that is why it is called mozzarella – “cut cheese”) the solid curd while soaking it in hot water. This heating process changes the structure of the curd and makes it more elastic and chewy. These curd pieces are repeatedly cut and heated until they can be stretched into strands. Then these cheese strands are kneaded together and shaped into balls. This technique is called pasta filata (pasta meaning a soft, doughy mass, filata meaning spun or stretched into threads).