Asiago cheese, a speciality of the Italian regions of Vicenza, Pavova, Treviso and Trento, is made from cow’s milk (it was originally made of milk from sheep.) The original cheese is a sweet curd, semi-cooked, unpasteurized cheese. Both the cheese and the rind are pale yellow; the flavour is somewhere in between that of parmesan…
Italian Cheeses
Bel Paese Cheese
This is a mild, Italian semi-soft cheese that is now also made in the US. It is a creamy, ivory-coloured cheese with a bit of a tang to it. It is usually sold in small wheels, though larger ones are available. Varieties flavoured with herbs are now available for use on cheese boards. Substitutes Use…
Bitto Cheese
Bitto can be a semi-hard or a hard cheese, depending on how long it was aged. Bitto Cheeses are sold anywhere from 40 days to 3 years in age. When young, the cheese is called “giovane” (which means “young” in Italian.) It is soft, white-coloured and has a sweet taste similar to a gruyère. As…
Bocconcini Cheese
Bocconcini Cheese © Denzil Green Bocconcini Cheese is small balls of Mozzarella, about the size of a chicken egg (thus another Italian name for these, “uvoa di mozzarella”, or “mozzarella eggs.”) They are usually packed in water to keep them fresh. In Italy, they are often made of buffalo milk. Bocconcini are usually served fresh…
Burrini Cheese
Burrini is a firm, pear-shaped, mild Provolone cheese with butter in the middle. It is made in the areas of Basilicata, Calabria and Molise, in southern Italy. To make the cheese, the curd is spin, then the cheese is moulded around a small piece of unsalted butter, and ripened for a few weeks. For export,…
Caciocavallo Cheese
Caciocavallo Cheese is shaped like a small gourd, pear or flask, usually with a definite small ball on top, forming a defined neck between it and the larger body. The process of making it is similar to that for Mozzarella. To make it, unpasteurized cow’s milk is heated to 97 to 100 F (36 to…
Casu Marzu
Casu Marzu is a cheese made in Sardinia, Italy. To make, you start with pieces of Pecorino Sardo cheese. You set the cheese out in the open, uncovered, and allow cheese flies (scientific name “Piophila casei”) to lay eggs in the cheese. The eggs hatch into transparent white maggots about 1/3 inch (8 mm) long….
Fontina Cheese
To make Fontina Cheese, cow’s milk is heated to 36 C (97 F.) Calf’s rennet is then added to curdle the milk. The milk is let sit for 1 hour as is, then it is heated to 47 to 48 C (116 to 118 F) and let sit for another two hours held at that…
Gorgonzola Cheese
Gorgonzola Cheese is a cylindrical blue cheese made from full-fat, pasteurized cow’s milk. The cheese is made in various sizes. The minimum height is 13 cm; the diameter will be between 20 and 32 cm. It has an inedible, rough pinkish-grey rind. Inside, the cheese is whitish or pale yellow with greenish-blue flecks and veins….
Grana Padano
Grana Padano is a hard cheese used for grating. It is like Parmesan, but it is not aged as long, it has a milder flavour, and its texture is a little coarser. The cheese is made from raw, semi-skim cow’s milk. The milk is put in large pots made of copper. Whey from a previous…
Italian Cheeses: Types and Uses
Italian Cheeses are a huge part of Italian meals. There is no formal fixed cheese course in Italian dining, as there is in French dining. In Italian cuisine, a cheese can be served before a meal, after, or more likely during, as an ingredient, topping or garnish to many varied food items, more so than…
Mascarpone Cheese
Mascarpone Cheese © Denzil Green Mascarpone is a pale cream-coloured soft, spreadable cream cheese made from cream from cow’s milk. Unlike other cheeses, Mascarpone uses no starter or Rennet, so it’s not really a cheese: it’s more akin to Clotted Cream, Crème Fraîche, Sour Cream or Yoghurt. The cream is heated to 190 F (88…
Mozzarella Cheese
Mozzarella is a fresh, stringy Italian cheese made from buffalo milk. Its full name is buffalo milk mozzarella, or “Mozzarella di Bufalo” in Italian. The cheese is pure white. It has a creamy texture and a slight fresh tang to it, but otherwise little other taste. If it has a sour taste, it is getting…
Parmesan Cheese
Parmesan Cheese is made from raw skim milk. Calf Rennet is added to the milk, and the milk heated until it curdles. The curd is cut, heated to 125 F (51 C), stirred, then heated further up to 131 F (55 C.) The curd is packed into moulds lined with cheesecloth, then removed from the…
Pecorino Cheese
Pecorino is the name given to all Italian cheeses made from sheep’s milk. Pecorino cheeses distinguished by aging These cheeses can be sold either young or old. The old ones are sometimes referred to as “ripened” (“stagionato”.) They are generally aged for at least 4 months, developing a strong, defined flavour, a brittle, hard texture…
Pecorino Ginepro Cheese
Pecorino Ginepro is cheese flavoured with juniper and balsamic vinegar. It is made from unpasteurized sheep’s milk curdled with calf’s rennet in Emilia-Romagna, Italy. The cheeses are aged a minimum of four months. During the first month of aging, they are washed with whey several times. After that period, they are then washed with oil…
Pecorino Pepato Cheese
This is usually a Pecorino Cheese, which has crushed black peppercorns stirred in. The cheese mellows the flavour of the peppercorns, making them less overwhelming. There is not one single producer or standard, because the name is not protected. Traditionally, though, it was made in Sicily. It can be sold young, when it will be…
Pecorino Romano Cheese
Pecorino Romano is a creamy-white cheese made from sheep’s milk in the vicinity of Rome. The curd is drained, then pierced to make fine holes, then salted. It’s often just called “Romano Cheese.” The cheese seems a bit like Parmesan, but grates more finely and has a sharper, saltier taste. North American Romano is usually…
Pecorino Sardo Cheese
Pecorino Sardo is a relatively new cheese, at least “officially speaking”, having only received its “Designated Origin” certification in 1991 from Italy, and its EU PDO protection in 1996. It is made from sheep’s milk, like all Pecorino cheeses. The unpasteurized milk is curdled with calf’s rennet, then moulded and salted. Some Sardinian dairies are…
Pecorino Siciliano Cheese
Pecorino Siciliano is made from sheep’s milk, as are all Pecorino cheeses. The unpasteurized milk is curdled with lamb’s Rennet, moulded and salted. The cheese is allowed to age for a minimum of 4 months. It’s made in Sicily. Cooking Tips Parmesan, Asiago, Grana Padano or any Pecorino Cheese. History Notes Some makers (certainly at…
Pecorino Toscano Cheese
Pecorino Toscano is made from sheep’s milk that is heated but not pasteurized. It is then curdled with rennet, put in moulds and pressed. The cheese is then removed from the moulds, and salted or soaked in brine (sometimes they are also steamed.) It’s made in smaller wheels (about 7 inches / 18 cm round)…
Provolone Cheese
Provolone is semi-firm Italian cheese. To make it, whole cow’s milk is heated to 100 F (38 C.) Whey from previous batches is added to act as the starter culture, along with Rennet. The Rennet used may be from a calf, a goat kid, or a lamb. When the milk has curdled, the curd is…
Quartirolo Cheese
Quartirolo is a soft, crumbly cheese with a slightly sour tang. Made in the Lombardy region of Northern Italy, it is made in 3 inch (7 1/2 cm) squares or in a rectangular shape 7 to 9 inches (18 to 22 cm) long, weighing from 3 1/3 to 6 1/2 pounds (1 1/2 to 3…
Ricotta Cheese
Ricotta Cheese © Denzil Green Ricotta Cheese is a soft fresh cheese made from the whey left over after making other cheeses — usually cow’s milk cheeses. The whey is heated to 77 C (170 F.) Citric acid is added, then the temperature raised further to 85 C. (185 F) The heat curdles the whey,…