Someone said to me recently, "WHERE ARE ALL THE ITALIAN CHEESES?", in capital letters too. And rightly so. I hadn't gotten around to adding any Italian cheeses to the site. "Hadn't gotten around to it?" you ask incredulously! To rectify this horrific blunder (Italy being one of the prime sources of cheese in this cheese-laden world of ours), I have added a few. These few represent only a tiny fraction of Italy's cheese pumping capacity though, so more will be added in due course.
Provolone is an Italian cheese that originated in Southern Italy, where it is still produced in various shapes as in 10 to 15 cm long pear shapes, cheesesausage shape or cone shape. A variant of Provolone is also produced in North America and Japan. The most important Provolone production region is currently Northern Italy.
The term [...]
Piave is a cow’s milk cheese made in the Piave River Valley region of Belluno, Italy. Shaped as a wheel, it is made from pasteurized milk collected in two milkings, one of which is skimmed, and is produced in the valley of the Piave River, between Belluno and Feltre. It is made by a dairy [...]
Pecorino is the name of a family of hard Italian cheeses made from ewe’s milk. The word derives from pecora meaning ‘sheep’.
Of the four main varieties of Pecorino, all of which have Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) status under European Union law, Pecorino Romano is probably the best known outside Italy, especially in the United [...]
Mascarpone is a triple-cream cheese made from crème fraîche, denatured with tartaric acid. Sometimes buttermilk is added as well, depending on the brand. After denaturation, whey is removed without pressing or aging. One can manufacture mascarpone by using cream, tartaric or citric acid, or even lemon juice.
Mascarpone is milky-white in color and is easily spread. [...]
Gorgonzola is a veined Italian blue cheese, made from unskimmed cow’s and/or goat’s milk. It can be buttery or firm, crumbly and quite salty, with a ‘bite’ from its blue veining. It has been made since the early Middle Ages, but became marbled with greenish-blue mold only in the eleventh century. It is frequently used [...]
Mozzarella is a generic term for several kinds of originally Italian cheeses that are made using spinning and then cutting (hence the name; the Italian verb mozzare means “to cut”):
Buffalo Mozarella, made from domesticated water buffalo milk
mozzarella fior di latte, made from fresh pasteurized or unpasteurized cow’s milk
low-moisture mozzarella, which is made from whole or part [...]
Dolcelatte is a blue veined Italian soft cheese. The cheese is made from cow’s milk, and has a sweet taste. Its name translates from Italian to ’sweet milk’ in English.
Dolcelatte was created by the Galbani Company (now part of Groupe Lactalis) and the name is a registered trademark. Dolcelatte was developed for the British market [...]
Cheesemaster’s note: This cheese sounds absolutely revolting. I would hesitate to call it a cheese. I’ll move on quickly now, I’m feeling a little ill…
Casu marzu is a traditional Sardinian sheep milk cheese, notable for being riddled with live insect larvae. Although outlawed in the European Union for health reasons, it is found mainly in [...]
Caciocavallo is a type of cheese made out of sheep’s or cow’s milk, originally produced in Sicily, but now spread all across Italy, and the Balkans. Caciocavallo has the European Union Protected designation of origin status.
Caciocavallo cheese is shaped like a tear-drop and is similar in taste to the aged Southern Italian Provolone cheese, with [...]
Burrata is a fresh Italian cheese, made from mozzarella and cream. The outer shell is solid mozzarella while the inside contains both mozzarella and cream, giving it an unusual, soft texture. It is usually served fresh, at room temperature. The name “burrata” means “buttered” in Italian.
As with other mozzarellas, Burrata owes its existence to the [...]