Amalfi Coast Day 3 - Olive oil mill and Mozzarella cheese factory, Sorrento

Having had a look at the weather forecast for the weekend, I thought I should plan for some back up plan in case it rains!
I found this "Gastronomical tour" that picks us up from Amalfi, driving us to the mozzarella cheese factory, old olive oil mill, limoncello factory as well as goes wine tasting near mount vesuvius.
The quote we had was 410 euro for two!!!!!!
Wayyyyy too expensie I find.  Apparently the main cost was the pick up.

I've decided to shop around and found out I could actually contact the mozzarella cheese factory ( http://www.caseificiomichelangelo.com/ ) and the olive oil mill ( www.frantoiogargiulo.com ) directly!
The cheese factory contacted us back and offered the following tour:

MEDITERRANEAN TRIO!      Mozzarella-Limoncello-Olive Oil – half day TOUR!
1.  Mozzarella Tasting + demonstration
• Bits of mozzarella 
• Smoked bit of mozzarella 
• Caciottine 
• Ricotta
• Slice of  aged cheese “caciocavallo”
• Slice of cheese “Moscione” 
• Slice of  smoked provola
• Slice of Provolone del Monaco 
• Bruschetta with fresh butter
• Bread
• Water & red wine included

Price per person : 30 Euro ( Adult)        15 Euro  (4-8 years Child)

Price includes:
• Guided Tour @ the cheese factory
• Hands-on cheese demonstration
• Explanation  of the entire process  
• Making your own mozzarella
• Disposable kit to wear
• Final tasting of all our specialites in our welcoming tasting room
• Roundtrip transfer from/to the hotel(if located in Sorrento downtown) or local train station for individuals

2. Limoncello factory - a taste of the famous Limoncello of Sorrento
 The tour takes about 30 minutes
PRICE PER PERSON :15 euro( including transportation to/from  Sorrento)

3.Another fascinating tour is the OLIVE OIL TOUR.
Visit the oldest Olive oil manufacturers in Sorrento which is renowned for the DOP olive oil in the area, in fact the quality has been certified from the EU Agricultural department,
Explanation of the old style production compared with the new state of the art process. 
Final tasting of more than 10 different kind of aromatic oils with bread.
The admission to the oil mill is totally free. You will pay just the transfer to reach it up to Sorrento’s hills.

PRICE PER PERSON: 10 EURO

So we signed up for it, took the sita bus to Piano di Sorrento.
Sara from Caseificio Michelangelo picked us up and first drove us to the olive oil mill.

so they used to grind the olive with the stone on the left, squeeze out the oil from the paste on the right with the help of donkeys.  

Unfortunately they haven't harvested the olives yet as they werent quite ready.

so none of the machines were running..

The owner kindly talked us through the process anyway with photos taken last year.

we were then given a big basket of bread and nearly 20 diff olive oils to try!

Didn't know just plain extra olive oil - there are quite a few to choose from already.

Then you've got the flavoured ones - chilli, lemon, orange, herbs, truffles etc. 

Next stop is the mozzarella factory :) 

We were shown the whole production process and we were given the chance to mould the mozzarella cheese ourselves :p

It was made with cow's milk - adding rennet (from sheep's stomach) to coagulate the milk!

All the water was squeezed out - leaving blocks of curd - looking a bit like tofu

The curd are blended and melted

Forming little mozzarella balls using the machine

They can put a few mozzarella balls together and shaped it quickly under hot water.

e.g. plait

Little flower

Some of them are sold fresh, some are hanged to mature for a few days/ weeks 

Cheese tasting

It was still pouring with rain when it finished :(
we walked around sorrento town and there isn't much to see really..
thankfully it stopped and so we took the bus to Positano after that :)