Scamorza Bianca

If you are a lover of cheese (and hopefully you are otherwise you are in the wrong place), one of the joys of the passion is taking a punt on a cheese you have never tried or, in the case of this offering, have never even heard of.

Scamorza Bianca is a southern Italian cow’s milk cheese from the Mozzarella family. The main differences seem to be that Scamorza is dryer and firmer. How do these sublte differences perform in the tasting?

Scamorza has a very mild (almost pleasant) yoghurt-like odour which is certainly not overwhelming. The cheese boasts a slightly rubbery texture (which might not be surprising given how it looks) but the consumption experience is not worse for this. There is just enough firmness to keep it on the tasty side of rubbery. The flavour is very mild (as advertised) but it is not bland; there is just enough substance to keep your tastebuds working. The cheese makes for a decent sandwich filler but comes out of its shell when cooked. It melts nicely and it’s hard enough to grate. Sure, it won’t blow your socks off but it does offer a different flavour to a pasta dish or similar when compared to a standard hard cheese like cheddar.

One thing I did notice is that the cheese does have a tendency to go mouldy much faster than I am used to so either eat it quick or keep it stored in an air-tight container.

This review has been a bit of challenge for me. Overall, I enjoyed my time with Scamorza and a 300g block seems to last much longer than a similar sized block of cheddar. I have been slicing it in to my toastie and grating it on my tortellini for a couple of weeks and I can’t really fault it. It seems to be above average on every metric, but I still can’t say I would rush out to buy it again. It is decent value for sure but without a real wow-factor trait, I think a good solid 7.0 rating about sums it up

RATING – 7.0

RECOMMENDATION – Performs best when cooked but generally a decent all-rounder