Daniel Banker makes fresh mozzarella by hand — literally.

On a recent Thursday morning, Banker dipped a small basket of fresh curds into a pot of 180-degree water for a few seconds, then kneaded and folded the resulting pliable mass. The process looked a lot like making bread.

"It's not too bad," Banker says of the hot mass forming between his bare fingers.

Over and over again, Banker dipped and stretched, until he'd formed about 35 pounds of mozzarella. Those finished fresh cheeses floating in whey will travel from just outside Pearisburg in Giles County to the Blacksburg Farmers Market and E...