New Culture, a company that makes cheese using precision fermentation, said it will debut its animal-free mozzarella next year in collaboration with award-winning chef Nancy Silverton.
It will be the first-ever animal-free, dairy mozzarella available to consumers, according to New Culture, which is based in San Leandro, California. The company said it has reached an agreement to launch the mozzarella cheese on two pizzas at Pizzeria Mozza, the acclaimed pizza restaurant, part of Sliverton’s Los Angeles-based Mozza Restaurant Group.
New Culture, which uses an animal-free fermentation process to make casein, the dairy protein that gives cheese many of its “meltable” attributes, said it expects that additional pizzerias will offer the cheese beginning later next year.
“We are having conversations with other pizzerias, but nothing we can share at this time,” a spokesperson for New Culture told SFA News Daily. “We will be announcing other launch partners in the coming months.”
Making an animal-free mozzarella that bubbles, browns, melts, and stretches like traditional mozzarella has been a challenge that makers of alternative cheeses have long struggled with. To produce its mozzarella, New Culture said it combines the casein it makes using fermentation with water, plant-based fats, salt, sugar, vitamins, and minerals.
The company said its mozzarella is “radically more sustainable, healthier, and better for our fragile, global food system” than traditional mozzarella. Because it is made without animal inputs, New Culture’s mozzarella is free from cholesterol, lactose, trace hormones, and antibiotics. It still tastes like traditional mozzarella and bubbles and browns in ovens up to 850 degrees, said the company.
“This revolutionary approach to cheesemaking radically cuts down on greenhouse gas emissions and water, land, and energy usage, bringing about a new culture for the multi-billion dollar global dairy industry,” New Culture said.
Silverton and the New Culture team created two new pizza recipes for the Pizzeria Mozza menu: a traditional margherita and a caponata pizza with eggplant, tomato confit, pickled onions, and caperberries.
“Silverton's recipe experimentation and culinary input have been essential to refining and preparing New Culture's first product for market,” New Culture said in a statement.
The partnership will also include a planned series of New Culture/Pizzeria Mozza launch events to showcase the new pizzas and help launch New Culture’s mozzarella. The first is slated for early June at Pizzeria Mozza in Los Angeles, followed by additional events in Los Angeles, New York City, and San Francisco.
Silverton, founder of La Brea Bakery, has also earned acclaim for her pizzerias and other restaurants, which also include Osteria Mozza and Chi Spacca. Silverton won the Outstanding Chef award, the James Beard Foundation’s top honor, in 2014.
“New Culture's mozzarella is a first-of-its-kind product, and we couldn't be prouder to introduce it with Nancy Silverton, who is an iconic chef, restaurateur, baker, and pizzaiola,” said Matt Gibson, CEO and co-founder of New Culture.
Several companies have launched vegan cheeses for pizza toppings, including plant-based dairy pioneer Miyoko’s Creamery, which developed a liquid version of mozzarella that is used as a pizza topping by some restaurants. New Culture’s product, however, will be the first to be made using casein produced using fermentation, the company said.
Fermentation has been gaining traction as a way of producing alternatives to animal products. Perfect Day, for example, which claims to have created the world’s first animal-free dairy protein, launched animal-free ice cream in 2019 and has since expanded with other consumer products and animal-free dairy ingredients for manufacturers.
The spokesperson for New Culture said that although mozzarella will be the first animal-free cheese that the company rolls out, “any cheese is possible.”
“Right now, our focus is selling our mozzarella cheese to pizzerias, spanning independent operators, local/regional chains, and national chains, and then over time we will launch a full portfolio of other animal-free dairy products,” the spokesperson said.
They added that New Culture does not have any immediate plans for retail distribution.
“Retail is definitely an option for expansion and growth, but we want to capture the food service market first,” the spokesperson said.
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