Italian cheese. Names and characteristics of Italian cheeses

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

Such a food product as cheese can be called without exaggeration one of the most important and favorite foods of man. Almost every refrigerator has a piece. It is added to salads, appetizers and main dishes, desserts are prepared with it … There are a lot of options for using this product.

Italian cheese in all its variety does not seem to be as popular as its French relative, but in practice it turns out to be consumed even more often.

Basics: definition and history

Cheese, along with bread, can rightfully be considered one of the most ancient human food products that had to be cooked, and not consumed in the form that Mother Nature presented it. The first evidence that makes us understand that cheese was an element of the diet of the people of that time dates back to more than 5000 BC. e. on the territory of modernPoland. Special thanks for this should be given to that negligent cheese maker who did not wash the sieve for making cheese after himself, thanks to which particles of milk fat were found on it even today. Who would have thought that it was with this that Italian cheeses began, the names, tastes and aromas of which turn the head of gourmets around the world!

The principle of obtaining cheese, with the exception of minor details, was similar - it was based on rennet fermentation, which accelerated the process of separating milk into curd and whey.

This enzyme was obtained from the stomachs of slaughtered animals. There is an assumption that, like everything ingenious, the birth of cheese was the result of a mistake - using offal, touched the milk and saw what happened to it. This is how a wonderful way of preserving such a capricious product as milk appeared, because cheese can be stored much longer.

Beloved by all Italian cheese appeared much later. Then the technology of cheese making was too complicated, so it was not practiced on the territory of Ancient Rome. The product was positioned as an imported delicacy and, of course, only very rich people could please themselves with it.

Russia has kept up, also producing cheese. Actually, even the name of the product speaks of the method of preparation - Russian masters did not heat the mass during the production process, and therefore the cheese. Under Peter the Great, who successfully opened a window to Europe, the country learned that there were also Italian cheeses, the names of which we will consider below.

Mamma Mia

Italians should not be underestimated -with regards to cheeses, their knowledge and skills are not inferior even to the famous France. Italian cheeses, whose names we will indicate below, have at least 400 items, each of which has its own individual taste and aroma. All of them can be divided according to the technology of preparation. This is very important, since belonging to one group indicates relative interchangeability, while using cheese from a different subgroup in a recipe is fraught with unpleasant consequences. Relatively speaking, you will get little pleasure if you replace mascarpone with parmesan in tiramisu.

Hard cheeses

The name says it all. It is a cheese with a firm texture and rich flavor.

The most popular of them include:

• Ubriaco. This hard cheese, whose name in Italian means "drunk". After the initial molding, the cheese is put into a container, poured with wine and covered with grape pomace on top. In this mode, he spends from six months to a year. The result is an amazing cheese, whose tart aroma of fermented fruit is combined with the rich taste of pineapple.
• It is impossible not to mention the most popular of Italian cheeses - asiago. At the dawn of its existence, it was made from sheep's milk, but over time they switched to cow's. This cheese is divided into two types. The first one is young, matures within a maximum of 1 month. It is pale, elastic, with a soft and delicate creamy taste. The second ripens for at least a year. During this period, a specially created microclimate fills it with taste.fruit and spiciness, the texture itself is firm, fine-grained, and the color is similar to honey. If you wait another 12 months, the flavor will intensify, it will become very brittle and similar in color to caramel.
• Grana cheese. This hard cheese has a common name, as it is divided into Gran Padana and Parmigiano Reggiano. The first has a bright, sweet, fruity taste dominated by pineapple. The cheese itself crumbles, has a yellowish color and is very hard. It lends itself perfectly to freezing without loss of taste. Ripens about 4 years. The second one is similar in taste to Gran Padana, only everything in it is more intense - both hardness, and taste, and aroma. Sold in bulk;
• Sheep pecorino cheese. It is prepared from the end of autumn to the beginning of summer, since it is during this period that the sheep get a free "range". This cheese is s alty and spicy, aging for an average of a year.

Semi-soft cheeses

This Italian cheese has the largest number of varieties. Despite this, they are primarily divided into two groups - those that have a thin crust and are distinguished by a long aging period, and those that have a thick, bright crust.

They are all washed when cooked in brine, as this measure prevents the development of excess mold. So, semi-soft cheeses include:

• Caciotta di Urbino. This cheese is the most popular in the homeland. It has a loose, sweet, moist texture. The taste has notes of milk, herbs and nuts.
• Straccino. One of the most amazing cheeses in Italy. Traditionally matures in caves,due to which it acquires a pink crust and an aroma in which almonds and shades of hay are mixed. It tastes like, oddly enough, creamy soup with asparagus.
• Fontina. It has a dense and elastic texture. The inside is evenly covered with small holes. Intense nutty taste with a drop of fragrant honey.

Blue cheeses

Here the palm, no doubt, belongs to the Gorgonzola. All Italian cheeses, the photos of which we have provided in this article, are self-sufficient in taste, including Gorgonzola. However, it really "plays" in combination with a fresh pear. Highly recommended to try.

In general terms, the taste is sweet, creamy with a hint of mushrooms and nuts.

Semi-hard cheeses

They are united by the consistency - dense and creamy. Covered with a crust of mold or natural, sealed with wax for greater safety.

These include, first of all, toma cheese. It is consumed both young and aged. In the first case, it is tender and sweet, but after a year the aroma changes, becoming sharp and intense. The fragrance is dominated by a hint of meadow flowers.

Fresh cheeses

Representatives of this type are the following varieties of Italian cheeses:

• Robiola pasteurized. It has a sweet-sour aroma and a fresh buttery texture.



• Robiolaunpasteurized. The texture is fleshy, juicy, the aroma is closer to yeasty.
• Kreschenza. Closest in taste to yogurt. This cheese is so rich in whey that it seems wet.

Clotted cheeses

This type is a stretched cheese clot, it includes:

• Caciocavallo. Traditional farm cheese. It is processed mechanically until the texture acquires a pronounced fiber and yt stops tearing. After that, the mass is divided into portions, molded and fed to aging. The taste of this cheese is wonderful, delicate and sweet.
• The most famous curd cheese is mozzarella (photo).



Usually sold in whey, which maintains a delicate texture due to the abundance of moisture between the fibers.

Whey Cheese

Here the favorite of all times and peoples is rightfully considered ricotta.

Amazing in taste and consistency cheese, which is similar to the most delicate and fresh cottage cheese.

Mature cheese

This category includes the legendary mascarpone. It has an extreme fat content and an equally extreme taste of cream.

It is to him that the symbol of Italian confectioners - the dessert tiramisu - owes its existence. This soft Italian cheese is similar in texture to rustic sour cream.

Application

And here is the most delicious. There are a lot of dishes in which Italian cheeses can be used! No pastedispenses with the intervention of parmesan, cannoli; a traditional Italian dessert is impossible without ricotta. Margherita pizza, an unforgettable and endlessly delicious classic, owes its taste to the combination of greens, tomatoes and mozzarella cheese (photo).

Cheese brought directly from Italy is quite expensive. What about those who cannot afford them? Craftsmen will find a way out everywhere. For example, now cheese production has been launched on the territory of Belarus, and the technology completely repeats the one that is common in the original lands. Of course, this is not Italian cheese from Italy, but nevertheless the product is quite worthy.