Gigi’s Mozzarella House in Everett, MA

When I was at Russo’s the other day, I picked up some ricotta cheese and some fresh mozzarella. Little did I know, that I was buying not only ridiculously fresh cheese, but also cheese that had been made right here in the Greater Boston area.

Score! Buying and eating this cheese helps me move further toward my goal of New Year’s resolution number 4: Eat more organic and environmentally friendly foods. While not organic, buying from a local source seriously reduces the amount of energy and emissions used to get the food from the factory to the table.

In this case, the “factory” is actually a woman’s house… her name is Maria Cutellis. When I got home I did a quick Google search on the “Mozzarella House” and turned up no website. However, I did find a few blog posts that gave me the information I needed. Amuse Bouche, a great little Boston food blog, wrote about this cheese maker back in May of 2005. I strongly encourage you to visit her website to get some additional background info on Gigi’s. It’s a great post…

You can buy directly from Maria in her home, but based on some Chowhound comments I read… it’s really no cheaper than buying from places like Russo’s. I’m not sure where else you can find her cheese, but the general consensus is that she is more of a wholesaler.

My cheese purchase included this fresh mozzarella. These little cheese “knots” are super fresh, tender, slightly salty but also a tiny bit sweet. I think I got about 5 or 6 of these in a pint container for $3.29. Not too bad… no different than any other grocery store — except that this cheese was made this week.

The other container I bought was a pint of fresh ricotta. Even though it’s not one of the most popular cheeses people buy to eat straight up, I actually really love ricotta — so I was dying to try it. I drizzled a little olive oil on it with some Italian dipping oil spices. The result was yummmm….

The cheese was creamy, very fresh, rich and delectable. I will be buying this local cheese a lot more often… at least every time I get back to Russo’s (which I clearly will never visit on a weekend — based on all the comments you guys left in my previous post! Scary!)