At Capella Cheese shop in Atlanta, mozzarella is made fresh daily. Brittany Billups places curds in a bucket before dousing them in 190-degree Fahrenheit water. She swishes the curds around with salt and adds more water until the curds melt and the mixture takes on a dough-like consistency.

Its handmade, small batch, said Raymond Hook, a cheesemonger and the shops owner. The most important thing is that the mozzarella maker can feel the texture, and when theyre pulling the curds they can see that theyre melting.

The root of mozzarella, mozzare, means to cut off and thats what Billups does: She stretches the cheese and cuts off pieces that form spheres anywhere from golf ball to baseball-sized that get dropped into room-temperature water (though eating it warm is a treat).

Freshly made mozzarella is a luxury, and usually when were shopping for the white cheese, were at the grocery store, where there are seemingly dozens of choices. So, where to begin? We chatted with a few experts to help make our cheese decisions easier.

First, a disclaimer: There are technically 12 types of mozzarella , but we wont be getting so in-depth here, as those names dont always translate to what we see in the grocery store.

Fresh Mozzarella