23/09/2026
Why travel to Campania to visit the family who make our mozzarella?
Because our obsession with pizza starts long before it reaches the oven.
We visited Latteria Sorrentina, a family dairy with five generations of cheesemaking, to follow the process behind two ingredients we use at Garden Grove: Fior di latte and smoked Provola.
Fior di latte begins with cow's milk, warmed and coagulated with rennet to form the curd. The curd is broken, drained and left to mature and acidify naturally before reaching the defining stage of pasta filata: hot water is added and the matured curd is stretched until it develops that smooth, elastic structure.
From there, controlling moisture becomes important for pizza.
We use it for its firmer, lower moisture content, designed to perform under the intense heat and short cooking time of a Neapolitan oven. It gives us the balance we're looking for: clean milky flavour, elasticity and a beautiful melt without releasing excessive moisture onto the pizza.
We also use their smoked Provola, another pasta filata cheese, where that familiar milky character takes on a deeper, gently smoky flavour while still melting beautifully in the oven.
But our relationship with Latteria Sorrentina didn't begin in Chiang Mai.
We've used their cheese since our travelling days across the UK and Europe. Different countries, different ovens and now the other side of the world, but we've stayed loyal to them and they've supported Garden Grove throughout the journey.
That's why visiting Campania and seeing the process for ourselves mattered.
Ingredients aren't interchangeable once you've spent years building your pizza around them. The way the cheese melts, the moisture it releases, its flavour against the tomato and the way it behaves at 450°C all become part of the pizza's identity.
Could we use a different cheese? Of course.
But it wouldn't be Garden Grove.
We don't skimp on ingredients. We use the most premium products available, and it shows.
From Campania to Chiang Mai. 🇮🇹 → 🇹🇭
Strictly sourdough. Notoriously Neapolitan.
Reminder, we’re back open Sundays from this Sunday, Sept. 27. ❤️🍕