Sorrento

When we stopped in Naples we'd selected the tour called "Taste of Sorrento and Pompeii." When we picked the tours ahead of time, I picked all the ones that started with "taste of" because I thought that meant there would be food. Boy was I disappointed!

I am always fascinated with how things are made. I can remember watching Mr. Rogers as a kid and seeing how they made crayons. I just knew if I was really good I'd be able to work in a factory someday. Anyway, I was really excited because in Sorrento we got to watch a woman making mozzarella cheese! We left the boat and drove along a coastal highway that was, I am pretty sure, narrower than our tour bus. The view was absolutely amazing. When we arrived in Sorrento we went to a local farmhouse in the hills. It was a small family-owned farm that produces mozzarella, vegetables, olives, and lemons. They used to do olive oil so we got to look at the old presses. Of course since we'd just been in Israel we were already experts on olive presses, but it was still interesting.

I took really good notes on how to make the mozzarella, but now that I'm reading through them they don't really make sense. Here goes. First they separate the curds (solids) from the whey (liquid). Then they mix it with hot water. A cream develops on the top of the water and that is skimmed off. Then they do a little stir, stir kind of thing and voila, mozzarella. Okay, so maybe my notes weren't as thorough as I thought. Anyway, she showed us a few shapes they make it in--this picture shows the donut shape which is my favorite because I like donuts.

The best part was that this lady spoke no English at all. Our guide narrated what she was doing as she made the mozzarella. Then when she was done and everyone wanted to take pictures she explained that the woman did know one word in English and right on cue she smiled and said "cheese." It was funny, even if she has made the same joke a million times before.

After watching the demonstration we went up to this outdoor seating area and ate fresh mozzarella with tomatoes and salami. Yum!