Storehouse Kitchen - Take Home Notes

Italian Cheese

#1: Pecorino Romano

This is an ancient Italian cheese. It was a staple in the diet of the legionaries of ancient Rome. Today, it is still made according to the original recipe and the name pecorino romano has a protected designation of origin (PDO) - meaning all manufacturing processes must take place within either Sardinia, Lazio or the province of Grosseto….It is crafted traditionally from sheep’s milk and is more supple when young, getting sharper and more crumbly as it matures.  (nV+nP)

#2: Gorgonzola Dolce

A unique blue cow’s milk cheese that differs from its Piccante version in that although it shares the same geographical requirements and milk sourcing definition, it’s made with different cultures and starters. This version is aged for only 88 days, resulting in a milder blueing, softer,  very spreadable but still with that distinct Gorgonzola flavour. (V+P)

#3: Asiago

Asiago cheese owes its name to the plateau found in the Veneto and Trentino regions in Italy, where cheese-making began almost a thousand years ago. Initially, cheese was produced from sheep’s milk and was called pegorin, which many historians hold as the precursor of asiago cheese. In time, the cheese started to be made from cow’s milk and was subsequently named Asiago. Presently, the production of asiago cheese has extended to include the provinces of Padua, Vicenza, and Treviso. (nV+nP)

#4: Taleggio

Stunning washed rind cheese - made with cow’s milk, this has been around since Roman times - apparently Cicero, Cato the Elder, and Pliny the Elder all mention it in their writings. Once solely produced in the Val Taleggio up until the late 1800s, when some production moved to the Lombardy plain to the south. (nV+nP)

#5: Burrata

First created in Andria, Puglia in Southern Italy by Lorenzo Bianchini after which other local cheese factories copied his methods. This is made in a similar way to mozzarella - forming fresh curds in a warm bath of whey, but then forming it into a pouch and filling it with cream and ribbons of mozzarella called stracciatella. All very delicious! (nV+P)