Cheeses

Caciocavallo podolico (Podolica cow cheese)

Caciocavallo podolico: a cheese whose aroma follows the pasture

It is stretched from the milk of Podolica cows, a hardy, frugal Apennine breed that in inland Avellino and Salerno still moves with the seasonal transhumance. In the Monti Picentini every step is done by hand, from raw milk to working the curd with wooden ladles. It is listed as a traditional agri-food product (PAT) of Campania.

• Round and elongated, with a little head on top and a raffia binding
• Semi-hard, compact, slightly grainy paste; straw yellow that darkens with age
• More fragrant from mountain grazing, bolder in winter, sharp after long ageing

How to enjoy it. Young cheeses of a couple of weeks sit alongside ones aged beyond six months: gentler the first, with a peppery edge the second. The most sought-after are made in spring, while the herds are out at pasture.

Production areas

Campania

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