Before Mozzareal opened in Ridgewood on Dec. 13, the Department of Agriculture didn’t know how to classify the fresh cheese- and pasta-making operation.
According to owner Guy Mercurio, a 25-year native of Ridgewood, that’s because the shop at 60-61 Cooper Ave. has a cheese-making process that has never been tried in New York City before. Mercurio has raw milk delivered from a small farm in upstate New York, pasteurizes it on site, and turns it into mozzarella and ricotta cheeses in a matter of hours.
“If it’s milk at five in the morning, it’s fresh mozzarella by 10 a.m. and ready to be consumed,” Mercurio told QNS.
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