One of the most important food on italian tradition is without doubt the cheese: it’s almost impossible to have a meal in italy without some form of cheese, be it “Grana” or Mozzarella. Why Cheese is so important inside the italian food culture ? There are historical reasons…

Historic Cheese

Cheese was invented by humanity around five thousand of years ago! There graffitis representing cow herding and cheese making in italy 2000 years before christ. Of course those cheese were very simple and primitive, but thanks to the various cultures that travelled our lands, a lot of innovations were introduced. Probably the first kind of seasoned cheese was introduced by the roman empire, while the current name “fomaggio” (or “fromage” like it’s called in france) derived from the greek word “formos”, which was the container used to give shape to the cheese.

Italian cheeses!

While many of the cheese-making traditions have been lost, a good amount of them was preserved by monks and saved from the ravages of time. Most of the modern kind of cheese are made either by orally-passed recipe or by formulaic recipes saved by the monks handwriting. Since a lot of monasteries were in italy we assume that a lot of italian chees recipes were saved thanks to them, and that probably explain why there are so many kinds of gourmet cheese in italy!

Well, enough academics, let’s talk about food! I’ve seen an interesting sample package of cheeses from the online shop Igourmet. Since there are lot of restriction on importing cheese in the USA, this could be your best bet on tasting some good italian cheeses! You may wonder, which cheese are that in the package, let me give you my opinion:

Grana Padano Stravecchio

The undisputed KING of italian cheeses, the grana padano has spawned a lot of imitations. The “Stravecchio” in the name means the duration of the seasonin: 20 months! It takes a long time to reach this kind of quality starting from Cow Milk, but it’s worth waiting. The taste is full and mouth watering, with a slight bitter aftertaste. This is one of the few cheese that can rival the Parmigiano reggiano and even top it. Grate it over pasta or salad and you’ll never go back to the fakes.

Pecorino Toscano

Using only sheep’s milk, this cheese is made in the hills of Tuscany. It’s soft and sweet, i think it’s best consumed with some red wine (a Chianti if you can). Chop it and make some amazing salads. Or spread it over a large slice of break with olive oil and cook it in the oven (or in the microwave). That’s the basic form of italian “bruschetta“.

Mountain Gorgonzola

It’s a one of the many blue cheeses produced in italy. In my opinion is best served over hot meals, because it melts easily and it become much more delightful that way. It’s also very good on vegetables like carrots and celery! Do you like to make pizza at home ? Don’t miss the chance to add some gorgonzola over it!

Toma Piedmontese

I saved my favourite for last. The Toma is a poorer cheese compared to the king Grana, but it’s a cheese produced in the mountain near Torino, where i lived most of my life. Actually Toma is a generic name for every king of cheese produced in the western part of the italian alps, but all of those diary products have a unique aroma and taste. According to legends, during 200 B.C. Hannibal stopped in piedmont during his campaign against the roman empire and he ate Toma in order to get his strenght from the long march. (and of course his army too ate our cheese).

I hope i made your mouth water at least a bit, have fun and remember that the best way to taste our food, is to share it with your friends!

Have fun tasting the italian food and culture!