Guest on the Ciao Bella podcast

I was thrilled when my friend Erica Firpo invited me to talk about my passion for cheese on her Ciao Bella podcast. I naturally steered the conversation towards blue cheese.

You can play and download the full The ABCs of Italian Cheese episode below:

20 regions, 20 cheeses

President and statesman Charles de Gaulle wondered how it could ever be possible to govern a country––his France––with more cheeses than calendar days. The mystery of Italy's proverbial governance difficulty is thus solved: it must be the cheese's fault. Counting IGT, DOP, PAT and other EU quality appellations, we're looking at approximately 520 varieties of recognized Italian cheeses alone, to which hundreds more should be included if we consider all the so-called "fantasy" cheeses, i.e. those subject to the cheese maker's free interpretation, milk type, technique and aging. Experts maintain that this grand total is close to 4,670.

If schedule and wallet hamper a journey to Italy to taste local food specialties in their various regional birthplaces, you can always travel across the 20 Italian regions on the symbolic cheese pilgrimage route logged below. Note however, that given the vastness of the Italian cheese scene, per-region product inclusion is vastly incomplete. 

Ready to travel through Italy via its representative northern, central and southern cheeses, region by region?
Continue Reading → Italian Cheese: 20 reasons to love cheese in every region as appeared on the Dievole Blog

I also contributed another article on Italian food misconceptions for Dievole, go check it out!

Cheese and wine pairing tips

Premise: There is no right and wrong cheese and wine pairing. Ultimately, it’s your palate that determines what works and what doesn’t. What follows are personal suggestions based on lots of research. Many wheels of cheese mixed and matched with different wines followed by many sleepless nights and midnight swigs of pepto-bismol. You can use this post as a starting point.

Wine and cheese have a lot in common, other than the fact that they go so well together. Cheeses vary in moisture and fat content, texture, pungency and flavor; wines too, differ in elements like acidity, sweetness, body, and structure.

Both cheese and wine require careful tending by skilled artisans. Both reach their maturation and peak flavor through aging. Although not effectively part of the actual cheese making processes, aging can make or break cheese. This is the same for wine.

Age

So the first consideration for a good cheese and wine pairing is age.

Young, fresh cheeses have a higher moisture content and a more milky and delicate texture. As cheese ages, in a process called affinage, the moisture slowly evaporates, leaving behind fat and protein, which carry flavor. Older cheeses tend to be more rich and savory, while fresher cheeses are more delicate and mild.

In addition to drying and concentrating the cheese, time spent maturing in the cave also introduces new aromas and flavors. Bloomy-rind cheeses (think Brie) remain gooey and spreadable, but pick up earthy notes. Blue cheeses develop pungent notes from the noble mold in their veins. Older cheeses like Fontina, Parmigiano and Asiago acquire nutty accents. Stinkers, like Taleggio, own a funky, bacon-like redolence that only comes with repeated washing of the rind during aging.

Like cheese, wine also can be delicate, bold and everything in between. A wine's depth and complexity often has a lot to do with age. Young wines are fresh and spirited, with lively aromatic profiles and bright notes of fruit, flowers, spices and herbs. Wines that have spent time in a cask/tank or in the bottle have had a chance to build up a bigger personality. Just like cheese, in addition to their primary flavors, wines take on secondary elements of oak, earth, minerals, umami, and more. Like cheese, older wines tend to be more complex and savory.

It's therefore clear how younger cheeses partner best with younger wines that are fruity, fresh and juicy: sparkling wines, crisp whites, dry rosés, and reds with good acidity and vibrant fruit notes.

Older cheeses need wines with bigger shoulders. The oldest cheeses, those that are the most savory and rich and nutty (think a 36 month-old Parmigiano Reggiano) pair best with wines that have even heftier body and structure.

Texture

But age is not the only factor to keep in mind when pairing cheese and wine. The texture of a cheese also influences a wine pairing. By congruity, rich, creamy cheeses pair well with similarly buttery white wines, creating a somewhat harmonious balance on the palate. But pairing by contrast is even better in creating that balance. The bubbles in sparkling wines are a nice counterpoint to rich, unctuous cheeses, scrubbing the tongue clean and causing salivation: the body's way of asking for another bite. That's why camembert and Champagne; robiola and Franciacorta and burrata and Prosecco are such perfect combinations.

Nose

Another good rule of thumb to follow when pairing cheese and wine is, "The funkier the cheese––the funkier the wine." A odoriferous cheese will do wonders when matched with a very rustic wine, so with a washed rind Taleggio I choose a natural wine from Etna or Abruzzo, whose rural backbone can hold court with the pungent cheese. In the same way smelly Taleggio finds an excellent counterpart in aromatic Riesling and perfumy Gewürztraminer.

Sweet and salty

As mentioned above, contrast is where cheese and wine pairings work magic. Sweet dessert wines like Passito beautifully balance the boldest and most savory cheeses like gorgonzola or other blue moldy soft ripened cheeses. The salt content in the cheese heightens the perception of the sweetness in the wine. By the same token, the sweetness in the wine complements the savory character of the cheese, providing balance––a perfect pairing.

Tannin

Big reds are terrific with rich, fatty aged cheeses, because the tannins in the wine literally bind themselves to the protein and fat, and sweep the palate after each bite. Cheeses that are very soluble will benefit from tannic wines' astringency. Tannin does not work with younger, less fatty cheeses, and leaves a chalky sensation in the mouth and a slight metallic aftertaste.

A word about goat cheese

Goat cheese is a sensational cheese to pair with wine: as the jack of all trades of dairy, goat cheese––depending on age and texture––can marry sparkling wine, white and red!
Sparkling Trento DOC (made like Champagne but with Chardonnay grapes) is the perfect wine for ultra-fresh goat cheese and mixed goat-sheep robiolas. Acidic, mineral-driven, and citrusy as hell Vermentino is perfect with 30-40 day-old chèvre logs. As it ages, goat cheese develops a creamline and spiciness that will match up fantastically with Sauvignon Blanc or a softer, more easy-drinking red like Dolcetto from Piemonte. Deeper, earthier and more aged goat cheeses will need a wine with bigger structure: think Nerello Mascalese from Sicily.

Pairing by terroir

Both cheese and wine ultimately flourish in specific climates and geographical conditions. Which is why when pairing wine with foods the old adage, "what grows together, goes together" is particularly appropriate when it comes to pairing wine with cheese.

Cheese is the product of milk, and milk is the product of an animal's diet. What the animal grazes on grows from a very specific soil, influenced by a particular climate. So where terroir influences wine, it ultimately does the same with the area’s cheese. Pastures and vineyards share the same chemical, climactic and physiological conditions.

Some examples

An ancient Roman cheese like Caciofiore della Campagna Romana, which to this day is still intrinsically part of the area where it’s produced, will pair beautifully with Cesanese wine, an indigenous grape that grows in the vicinity of Rome in the Ciociaria wine region. Likewise, Pecorino Romano––practically still made like 2,000 years ago––pairs well with a fine Frascati Superiore made in the Castelli Romani wine lands located only a few miles from the Colosseum.

With an aromatic and pungent stinker like Puzzone di Moena I pour a ruby wine with a floral bouquet like Marzemino or Teroldego, both grape varieties indigenous of the same Alpine valleys of Trentino-Alto Adige where the cheese is made. See what I did there? I applied the concept of aromatic contrast (nose) as well as the same terroir.

For a fatty cheese like Mascarpone, I go for bubbles. The carbon dioxide concealed in the fine bubbles of Franciacorta, Lambrusco or Prosecco is capable of cleaning and balancing the creamy, adhesive mouthfeel of the triple-cream cheese. The majority of Italian bubbles have northern Italian origin, like mascarpone.

For long-aged cheeses like Provolone del Monaco DOP, a good pairing is with a fine pedigreed, well-structured red like a Aglianico, or a vivacious Gragnano or Lettere Penisola Sorrentina. These wines all grow in the same volcanic area where the cheese is made. Caciocavallo Podolico from Puglia finds its best mate in Nero di Troia and in Primitivo di Manduria.

Fresh, young cheeses like Mozzarella di Bufala, Ricotta or Burrata beg to be served with a tender and vivacious wine capable of bringing out the sweetness of the cheese. Think southern Italian Fiano di Avellino, which offers balance with acidity, creaminess and musky notes, all in one sip. Other good wines to pair with fresh, young cheeses are Moscato, unoaked Chardonnay and Champagne.

A spicy cheese like aged Castelmagno, Asiago or Comté pair well with a voluptuous, round and velvety wine: Barolo, Barbaresco, Nebbiolo, or even a sweet liqueur-like wine like Barolo chinato. Here too, cheeses and wines share the same geographical characteristics.

In the Veneto region, Garganega grapes make the wines of Soave, a crisp white with a slightly bitter almond finish. The bitterness in this wine makes it a fascinating match for young Asiago, which––you guessed it––is a Veneto cheese! The more aged versions of Asiago go surprisingly well with fruity, off-dry Prosecco or Moscato d'Asti, again from the Veneto.

What is your go-to cheese and wine pairing?

My 10 favorite cheese shops in Rome

"There is a reciprocal relationship between cheese and its customer: every cheese waits for its client, poses in a way to attract it, with attitude and haughty grain, or on the contrary dissolving into surrendering abandon" 

In his novel Palomar, Italo Calvino describes the subtle relationship (and slight exhilaration) of finding oneself in front of an overflowing cheese counter in a Parisian cheese shop.

That same embarrassment of riches is how I feel when, disoriented, I make my way to the front of the shop and peer in the overflowing cheese display. Not only am I tugged in several directions––torn between a soft-ripened bloomy rind robiola and a voluptuous and nutty Alpine toma––I am also reminded with every bite, that cheese is the result of dedication, hard work, passion and love.

Behind each cheese there are in fact OGM-free cereals, rolling pastures, fragrant meadows, green grass and transhumance, and also sets of sturdy (and often heat-chapped) hands, obstinance and secrets handed down over the centuries, superstition, patience, tradition, prayer and for many, livelihood.

Rome has its fair share of cheese shops. The ones listed below are some of the usual places where I normally am found, lost in contemplation, tasting slices carved from old classics, or discovering new incredible products.

I like to linger and chat with the cheesemonger, ask about where the cheese was made, who the people behind each wheel are, what wine pairs well with the cheese, what bread pairs well with the cheese... The conversation often goes on for hours. I know you understand.

Here are my 10 favorite cheese shops in Rome.

ProLoco DOL
In the Centocelle suburb, Vincenzo Mancino and his "family" of loyal Lazio food purveyors operate in the number one location for regional culinary specialties. Cheese occupies large portion of the offer, with stars like rare Caciofiore whose curds are made with soaked thistle, soft Cacio Magno, or the herb-rubbed Conciato produced by the female inmates of the Rebibbia prison. There's also a wide selection of cave-aged pecorinos, caciocavallo and buffalo cheese produced in the nearby Pontina marshland. Cured meats and cheeses can be enjoyed seated along with house pizza in teglia and a handful of succulent entrees. Reservations recommended. especially on the weekend.

La Tradizione
Owned by Roberto and Stefano and a passionate team of cheese lovers, the shop boasts one of Rome's widest cheese selections. The display case (and the caveau downstairs) conceal a vast assortment of cured meats and more than 400 kinds of cheese from Italy and abroad. Barrel-matured and cave-aged Caciocavallo, ricotta Seirass, plus Cheddar and Stilton. There's a special display reserved for only for blues, gorgonzolas and roqueforts. Shelves of goat milk cheeses, caciocavallo, taleggio, Sicilian ragusano, and the unique Conciato Romano of the Le Campestre farm that's aged with herbs, spices and wine in special terracotta anforae. All the extravagant shopping here is paper-wrapped with a ribbon and handed over with a smile.

Beppe e i Suoi Formaggi
Beppe Giovale comes from a family of cheesemakers who produce, age and cure cheeses made with the milk of their own goats, cows and sheep. The spacious shop located in the Jewish Quarter sells mostly Piemonte and French raw milk regional cheeses sourced exclusively from free-range, pasteur-raised cattle farms. The cheeses can be both purchased or enjoyed at one of the tables in the back, along with a glass of wine, whole-grain breads, terrines, extra virgin olive oil, edible flowers, nuts, pomegranate berries and fruit jellies. Reservations recommended at peak aperitivo time (6-8pm).

La Formaggeria di Francesco Loreti
At stall number 26 of Mercato Latino in Piazza Epiro, Francesco and Donatella carve wedges out of toothsome wheels, handing them with a smile to awe-struck customers. Conversation is followed by a glass of wine and more cheese. This is totally normal here, transactions come later. The stall sells only artisanal products sourced at small creameries and family-run dairy farms, and not usually found at farmer's markets. The goal is removing from our daily food shopping cart items commonly available in big chain grocery stores, providing instead valid, high quality alternatives, sold at totally democratic prices. The market is open Mon-Sat, 6:30am-3:00pm.

Salumeria Roscioli
Bread and cheese go hand in hand. It's no surprise then that Rome's leading baker should naturally expand its offer to include bread-loving foods like prime cured meats and stellar cheese. The manic selection of quality products is in the hands of brothers Alessandro and Pierluigi Roscioli. Gracing displays are soft discs of robiola, bloomed and washed rind cheeses, moldy blues like rare White Stilton Gold, made in only 6 creameries and containing actual flecks of gold. There's more: think rare Bitto, elastic pecorinos, or Caciocavallo Podolico made in Puglia between May and June with the milk of an endangered cow breed. Reservations mandatory.

Antica Caciara Trasteverina
The smile on Signor Roberto and his wife Anna's face lights up with every customer that walks in the door of this historical Trastevere cheese shop. This is where Romans come for authentic Pecorino Romano DOP (made by Fulvi with Lazio milk) and sheep ricotta sourced at sustainable creameries. Other delights include oven-baked ricotta, formaggio di fossa (cheese matured in sealed 6-ft deep tufa stone pits), toma del Piemonte, variably aged regional cheeses, plus Norcia cured meats like guanciale, corallina, coglioni di mulo and other goofy-named local salumi.

Salsamenteria
Roberto Mangione runs a small deli (salsamenteria, in old Italian) and you'd be content just purchasing silken slices of prosciutto San Daniele or a precious sliver of gooey Gorgonzola, but you'd be missing out on Rome's best kept secret. After the sun goes down, Roberto pours the bubbly and serves fine cheeses and top cured meats with impromptu seating on foldable chairs and tables opposite the display cases. I come for the refined culinary delights like beer-flavored Ottavio cheese produced at Fattorie Fiandino, or Alpine Beaufort. All paired with Roberto's elegant selection of Champagne (200+ labels), Italian and French wines, craft beers and liqueurs. Given venue size, call ahead to let Roberto know you'll be stopping by.

Va Sano
After moving to Rome from their native Paris, David and Laurène travel back to France regularly to source their high quality French products. Think creamy Camembert Fermier, or delightful Comté aged 24 or 36 months, wines from Bordeaux, Bourgogne, Alsace, Languedoc and the Southwestern wine regions, plus spectacular Champagnes. In addition to the gorgeous cheese and wine selection, accoutrements include foie gras and macarons, croissants, pain au chocolat, pain d'épice and gourmet jams. Wine and cheese tastings are held weekly.

Casa dei Latticini
Family-run since 1898 – not a typo – Antonio Micocci's treasure trove of all things moldy, funky and crumbly continues the family tradition: providing the elegant Sallustiano neighborhood residents with top-notch cheese and dairy. Shelves are chock-full with 500 different types of Italian cheese and some French highlights. The selection of toma piemontese wheels is staggering, and the delicious mozzarella di bufala is delivered twice a day from Paestum (Barlotti, Vannulo, etc). The staff always has a small selection of tastings out on the counter for walk-in clients and devoted aficionados.

Bottega Liberati
Take the orange A metro line and get off at Giulio Agricola. The 1960s historically acclaimed Liberati butcher shop is now in the hands of Roberto. Sold in addition prime Maremmana, Piemontese, Chianina, Charolais and Bue Grasso di Carrù beef cuts are select herbs, bottled sauces, jarred legumes and bronze-extruded pastas. Romans also flock here for Liberati's phenomenal cheese selection. Prime quality products hail from high altitude pastures and grass fed cattle. I can't last too long without goat's milk robiola Le Ramate, Cau & Spada cheeses, and his sublime burrata. Bottega Liberati is furthermore the only place south of the Alps where I can find the delightful Eggemoa cheeses.

The cheese I tasted in Campania

Remember how I wrote about the cheese I ate in Abruzzo? Today, we're traveling to a part of Campania where I filmed several episodes of my show.

When I talk about the Campania region, I often get puzzled looks.  Campania is the Italian region of which Naples is the capitol and that boasts beautiful places like the Positano, the Amalfi Coast, Cilento, Mt Vesuvius, the Sorento Peninsula, Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Paestum.

Not to mention the mozzarella...

But not all Campania cheese is made from the milk of water buffalos. In the Season 2 episode of my show ABCheese filmed in the northern Caserta area of Campania, I tasted unique cheeses. Among which mozzarella too, of course, but other incredible ones too.

Some I keep coming back to, like Conciato Romano, whose name only refers to its ancient Roman past (it's a sheep's milk cheese whose recipe is 2,000 years old!). This firecracker of a cheese is made in only one farm in Castel di Sasso, and acclaimed chefs source it there for their recipes.

The Lombardi family that produces the cheese is friendly and always happy to talk about their unique product. They have become dear friends, and I keep going back to visit every chance I get.

Other cheeses explored in the episode were totally new to me, like the delectable Fabula made with bufala milk and aged like a bloomy rind French brie, or soaked in red wine. The cheesemaker Giuseppe Iaconelli works with Caseificio Il Casolare to make his fantastic experimcnets with buffalo milk.

Another was Gerarchico, a cacicavallo that ages 100 days in an air-tight barrel full of hay. The youngest member of the family, Angelo, is the mastermind behind this incredible product. He "invented" Gerarchico when he was just 16 years old! His family's creamery is called Caseificio La Teresina, named after his mother, who taught him the trade.

Both these cheeses are highly innovative products, yet they're made in true artisan fashion, in small, family-owned creameries.

At the end of the episode, I tasted all of the cheeses of this part of Campania, worked into the pizza toppings of Maestro Franco Pepe at his restaurant Pepe in Grani.

Want to hear the sound of the beautiful Italian language, and watch me taste all of these amazing cheeses from the Campania region?

Sit back and enjoy. Buon appetito!



My prime-time TV show ABCheese is broadcast by SKY Italia on Gambero Rosso Channel.

Mozzarella di Bufala Cheese Q&A

"Why is it called mozzarella di bufala?" I get asked this by non-Italians a lot. My answer always surprises. "Because it's made with the milk of the buffalo". After a long silence I explain that the bovine in question is the water buffalo, not bison.

There are many––often conflicting––theories about how these gentle animals got to Italy from India. The theory I find more believable is that the introduction occurred during the Norman period in Sicily, where the animals arrived on ships towards the end of the 10th century during Saracen and Moorish invasions. In the period between 1189 and 1266 they slowly migrated to the current breeding areas. What's evident is that the buffalo, with its large, flat hooves and penchant for loose, muddy terrains, thrived in the southern regions' marshy low lands.

There is so much more to say about one of my favorite cheeses! That's why I'm sharing the knowledge acquired over the course of 3 years spent roaming around Italy reporting on the country's best, lesser known and most rare cheeses for my TV show ABCheese.

I'll answer the questions I get asked most frequently on the cheeses of Italy in a brand new blog series called "Cheese Q&A" Please feel free to add your mozzarella di bufala questions in the comments section below!

What is the history of mozzarella di bufala?

The first historical documents dating back to the 12th century, when the Normans controlled southern Italy, state that the monks of the San Lorenzo monastery in Capua used to offer "mozza" or "provatura" to the visiting pilgrims. The modern term mozzarella appeared for the first time in 1570 in a cookery manual by Bartolomeo Scappi, Renaissance chef of the papal court under pope Pius IV (Medici) and Pius V.

Where is mozzarella di bufala produced in Italy?

Mozzarella di bufala DOP (protected designation of origin) is produced in 4 macro-areas: in the Campania region in the provinces of Caserta, Salerno and part of the provinces of Benevento and Naples; in the Lazio region it is produced in part of the provinces of Frosinone, Latina and Rome. In the Puglia region, mozzarella di bufala campana is made in a part part of the Foggia province, and in the tiny region of Molise it's made in part of the province of Isernia. Any product marketed as mozzarella di bufala outside of the designation of origin label is not protected by the Consortium's strict production guidelines.

How is mozzarella di bufala made?

It takes 4,5 liters (that's a little over a gallon) of water buffalo milk to make 1 kilo of mozzarella di bufala. To turn that gallon of white gold into the milky ball of happiness that is mozzarella di bufala, cheesemakers have to turn the fatty liquid into solid, in a complex operation. The 2-hour old raw milk is first of all cultured, meaning lactic acid bacteria is added at the beginning of the cheese-making process to convert sugar into acid, which coagulates milk proteins.

Once the milk is curdled the cheesemakers break the mass and obtain curds. The curds are then left to soak in the whey to acidify further, after which is my favorite part of production: the magical filatura (i.e. spinning) phase. Slowly adding boiling water the curds are stretched and spun by the mastro casaro (master cheesemaker) in large inclined wooden tubs. Using a special bowl and a stick, he turns the ugly tofu-like curds into a large snow white, satiny mass of hot mozzarella. Very quickly the large mass is portioned and severed (in Italian this verb is "mozzare") by two or more cheesemakers facing each other, who with their bare hands cut off different sizes from larger sections, either in the classic 200-gram ball, 50-gram bocconcino, small bite-sized ciliegine or the large braided treccia, and then dropping them in a cool salt bath.

The idenifying mark of bufala shaped by hand and not by a machine is a clearly visible 3-point "scar" on the surface of each mozzarella. Just a few hours after soaking in the salty brine, mozzarella di bufala is ready to be eaten.

How long does mozzarella di bufala keep?

I'm going to say this now, and you'll just have to trust me: mozzarella di bufala should never be refrigerated. Kept in a bowl floating in its whey storing liquid, mozzarella di bufala should be eaten within a few days of its production, at room temperature. Refrigerating messes with the texture and the chill nullifies the delicate taste, numbing your taste buds. Besides, who has mozzarella left over anyway?

What should real mozzarella di bufala taste like?

The taste is lactic (milky), a hint of hay and a wild, slightly acidic twang. The light creamy and almost sweet taste contains barely a hint of salt. The texture is rich, creamy and oozingly delicious...with twice the fat of cow's milk, fresh mozzarella di bufala has plump, bulbous consistency that weeps sweet, rich, grassy whey when bitten into. The experience can only be described as sensual.

What's the best way to eat mozzarella di bufala?

I believe the best way to enjoy bufala is eating it with your hands: biting into it, whey dribbling down your chin. It's equally satisfying plated alongside ripe heirloom tomatoes, fresh basil and seasoned with only a thread of extra-virgin olive oil––the magical caprese salad. 

I also love to add it raw, ripped in messy swaths, on pizza, pasta, vegetable dishes and salads. Sliced and sandwiched between slices of crusty bread with sautéed greens, or with prosciutto, or even better: paired with blistered shishito peppers. Day-old bufala is perfect for mozzarella in carrozza fried sandwiches.

Would you like to know more on the topic of mozzarella di bufala? Read this article Tasting Mozzarella di Bufala Straight from the Source

I purchase my mozzarella di bufala at the following dairies:
Caseificio il Casolare
La Baronia
Tenuta Vannulo
Barlotti
Caseificio Giuliano