Tillamook Just Released My New Favorite Mozzarella
This mozzarella is good enough to eat on its own, but it's also perfect for all your pasta bakes, casseroles, and pizzas.
Here in Oregon, Tillamook is a big deal. The cheese is everywhere, and making the journey to the Tillamook Creamery on the Oregon coast for all the cheese samples (and, of course, ice cream) is a rite of passage.
I love Tillamook cheese. I buy its two-pound bricks of extra-sharp, two-year white cheddar at Costco and use it for everything from quesadillas to breakfast sandwiches. The brand's "farmstyle shreds" are worlds better than the finely pre-shredded cheese you usually see at the grocery store—they're extra thick and super melty.
So when I found out that Tillamook released a new line of mozzarella, I jumped at the chance to try it.
Why I Love Tillamook's New Mozzarella
The thing is, mozzarella might just be my least favorite cheese. Before you get mad at me, it's not that I dislike mozzarella. I just don't think it's flavorful. I use it on pizzas and pasta bakes, but most of the time, when I need a melty white cheese, I opt for queso Oaxaca. It has the same meltiness as mozzarella but way more flavor and the perfect amount of salt.
That said, I'm only here to tell you about Tillamook's new mozzarella because I was pleasantly surprised by its flavor. It is lightly tangy and has just the right salt level that, combined with its perfect meltability and richness, makes it a new cheese drawer staple.
The mozzarella comes in several convenient formats: those thick farmstyle shreds for scattering over pasta bakes and casseroles, blocks for DIY shredding, slices for sandwiches, and single-serve squares for snacking.
I was most surprised by the snacking squares because I found myself, well, snacking on them throughout the day, each time a little shocked at how tasty the cheese was on its own. Becoming a fan of plain mozzarella was not on my 2024 bingo card.
I scattered the shreds atop an orzo mushroom bake and enchiladas to test its ability to melt. I usually don't buy shredded cheese because it's coated with anti-caking agents like cellulose, which inhibit melting and can give the cheese an unpleasant graininess.
The Tillamook shreds are coated with potato starch instead, and this seems to perform the anti-caking function very well without preventing the cheese from melting into a gorgeous, bubbly mass. I was hard-pressed to tell the difference between the factory-shredded cheese and home-shredded cheese, except I think the factory grater is sharper than mine.
Now, Tillamook's mozzarella is low-moisture, so it will not replace fresh mozzarella for margherita pizzas or caprese salads, but I'm genuinely excited to have a new, tastier option for all my other mozzarella needs.
