Caciocavallo Podolico del Vulture

Origin

Monte Vulture, Basilicata

Description

The premium expression of southern Italy's great stretched-curd cheese tradition: Caciocavallo Podolico made from the milk of semi-wild Podolica cattle (an ancient Balkan-origin breed grazed on the aromatic wild herbs of the Lucanian Apennines). Aged 12-24 months in cool cellars, it develops an amber-brown, gnarled rind and a firm, slightly crumbly paste with a complex, almost blue-cheese-like aroma from the extraordinary milk. The Vulture volcanic area produces the finest specimens. Hung in pairs (hence 'horse cheese') on wooden beams during maturation.

III

The Thread

—Both are aged, firm-paste cheeses from semi-wild or pasture-grazed ruminants — Manchego uses Manchega sheep on the Castilian plateau, Podolico uses wild-grazed cattle on Lucanian mountains, both developing complex aromatic profiles from the wild-herb grazing that industrial dairy cannot approach Spanish

—Both are long-aged stretched or pressed cheeses from ancient Mediterranean cattle/sheep breeds grazed on specific regional aromatic herbs — Cretan Graviera from sheep, Lucanian Podolico from cattle, both representing the same principle of extraordinary milk from animals with access to wild Mediterranean flora Greek

Flavour Context

Complex, piquant, with the wild-herb aromatic character of Podolica milk, developing towards a blue-cheese depth at long aging — the most sophisticated cheese of the Italian south

Pillars V — VII

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