When I first heard about Paul Jackson’s farm (Paul happens to be the first cheese maker in the UK to make traditionally handmade buffalo mozzarella) I had visions of these gigantic brown beasts producing the rich milk (specifically needed under Italian regulations in order to be called mozzarella) purely from the lush green pastures of Dorset. In fact, it turns out that buffalo are far less discerning eaters than the fussy cow and are quite happy munching on almost anything you present them with.

For the last three months Paul’s business, Golden River Farms, has been producing 200 cheeses a week from his herd of 30 water buffalo imported to from Italy to the West Country.

That was two years ago and after a number of false starts – resulting in a trip to Campania, just North West of Naples, to be taught the secrets from a veteran mozzarella maker – enough time had passed for the animals to start producing milk. Finally Paul is reaping the rewards of his efforts.

“We stretch and work the curds by hand and as far as I’m aware are the only people in this country to be making mozzarella in this way”, says Paul.

With a beautifully soft texture, gentle elasticity and rich, creamy flavour, the white balls of cheese are simply too good to be eaten with anything more than a drizzle of premium extra virgin olive oil and suggestive grind of black pepper and either eaten just like that or made into a simple salad.

“Everybody who has tasted our cheese has said it tastes exactly like authentic Italian mozzarella”, enthused Paul, and I was not about to disagree. Real Italian mozzarella makers, and the official mozzarella law makers in Italy, the 'Consorzio di Tutela’, might find grounds for complaint, but not me. The freshness and provenance of this locally-sourced British product, not to mention the flavour and voluptuous texture, should make it the first choice for anyone wanting a premium product while at the same time supporting an enterprising British farming venture.

With another 30 beasts on the way Paul is doing his best to keep up with demand and reluctantly, is having to think about buying in buffalo milk from other sources around the UK to keep up with the orders. “We are not reaching demand at the moment and the cheese goes before we’ve even produced it.

“We want to get up to about 500 head of buffalo. That will allow us to produce somewhere in the region of around 1000 balls of cheese a week”, he says. With slow growing animals like buffalo this might take some time. My advice is to place your orders online now and get it delivered straight to your door – before it’s gone.

www.goldenriverfarms.co.uk