It is no exaggeration to call such a food product as cheese one of the most important and beloved human food products. In almost every refrigerator there is a piece. It is added to salads, snacks and main dishes, desserts are prepared with it ... There are a lot of options for using this product.
Italian cheese in all its diversity does not seem so popular than its French relative, but in practice it turns out that it is used even more often.
The basics: definition and history
Cheese, along with bread, can rightfully be considered one of the most ancient human food products that needed 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 more than 5000 years BC. e. in the territory of modern Poland. Special thanks for this should be given to that careless cheesemaker who did not wash the sieve for making cheese after himself, thanks to which particles of milk fat were already found on it today. Who would have thought that it was from this that the Italian cheeses began, whose names, tastes and aromas are dizzying 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 separation of milk into cottage cheese 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, milk was touched and we saw what happened to it. So there was a wonderful way of preserving a whimsical product like milk, because cheese can be stored an order of magnitude longer.
Beloved 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 did not lag behind, 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 cheese. Under Peter the Great, who successfully opened a window to Europe, the country learned that there are 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, the names of which we indicate below, have at least 400 names, each of which has an individual taste and aroma. All of them can be divided according to cooking technology. This is very important, as belonging to one group indicates relative interchangeability, while using cheese in a different subgroup in the recipe is fraught with unpleasant consequences. Relatively speaking, you will not get much pleasant if you replace the mascarpone with parmesan in tiramisu.
Hard cheeses
Everything is clear from the name. This is a cheese with a solid texture and rich taste.
The most popular of them include:
- Ubriako. This hard cheese, whose name is translated from Italian means "drunk." After the initial molding, the cheese is laid out in a container, poured with wine and covered on top with grape meal. 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 should be noted the most popular of Italian cheeses - asyago. At the dawn of existence, it was made from sheep’s milk, but over time they switched to cow's milk. This cheese is divided into two types. The first is young, matures within a maximum of 1 month. It is pale, supple, with a soft and delicate creamy taste. The second ripens at least a year. During this period, a specially created microclimate fills it with the taste of fruit and pungency, the texture itself is solid, fine-grained, and the color is similar to honey. If you wait another 12 months, the aroma will intensify, it will become very fragile and similar in color to caramel.
- Grana cheese. This hard cheese has a common name, as it is divided into gran padan and parmigiano reggiano . The first has a bright, sweet, fruit-flavored, dominated by pineapple. The cheese itself crumbles, has a yellowish color and is very hard. It lends itself to freezing without loss of taste. Matures for about 4 years. The second is similar in taste to the gran padan, only everything in it is more intense - both hardness, and taste, and aroma. Sold in bulk;
- Pecorino Sheep Cheese . It is prepared from the end of autumn to the beginning of summer, since it is during this period that the sheep receive a free "walk". This cheese is salty and spicy, ripens on average a year.
Semi-soft cheeses
This Italian cheese has the greatest number of varieties. Despite this, they are primarily divided into two groups - those that have a thin crust and have a long ripening period, and those that have a thick bright crust.
All of them are washed during cooking in brine, as this measure prevents the development of excess mold. So, semi-soft cheeses include:
- Cacciotta di Urbino. This cheese is most popular in the homeland. It has a loose, sweet, moist texture. On the palate notes of milk, grass and nuts are guessed.
- Straccino. One of the most amazing cheeses in Italy. By tradition, it ripens in caves, thanks to which it acquires a pink crust and aroma in which almonds and hues of hay are mixed. To taste it reminds, oddly enough, a creamy soup with asparagus.
- Fontina. It has a dense and elastic texture. The inside is evenly covered with small holes. Taste intense nutty 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 provided in this article, are self-sufficient in taste, including Gorgonzola. However, it really will “play” in combination with a fresh pear. We strongly recommend a try.
If you characterize the taste in general, then it is sweet, creamy with a subtle touch of mushrooms and nuts.
Semi-hard cheeses
They are united by a consistency - thick and creamy. Covered with mold or natural crust, for better preservation, they are sealed with wax.
These include, first of all, the cheese of the volume. It is consumed both young and seasoned. In the first case, it is gentle and sweet, after a year the aroma changes, becoming sharp and intense. The aroma is dominated by a shade 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 the texture of fresh butter.
- Robiola unpasteurized. The texture is fleshy, juicy, the aroma is closer to yeast.
- Kreschenetsa. Closest to yogurt. This cheese is so full of whey that it seems wet.
Clotted cheeses
This type is a stretched cheese clot, it includes:
- Kachiokavallo. Traditional farm cheese. It is processed mechanically until the texture acquires a pronounced fibrousity and yt stops tearing. After this, the mass is divided into portions, passes the molding and enters the maturation. The taste of this cheese is beautiful, delicate and sweet.
- The most famous clot cheese is mozzarella (photo).As a rule, it goes on sale in serum, which maintains a delicate texture due to the abundance of moisture between the fibers.
Whey Cheese
Here the favorite of all time is considered to be ricotta.
Amazing in taste and consistency, cheese that looks like the most tender and fresh cottage cheese.
Ripe cheese
This category includes the legendary mascarpone. It has an extraordinary fat content and an equally extraordinary taste of cream.
It is him who owes his existence to the symbol of Italian confectioners - a tiramisu dessert. This soft Italian cheese is similar in consistency to rustic sour cream.
Application
And here is the most delicious. A dish in which you can apply Italian cheeses, lots! No pasta can do without the intervention of parmesan, cannoli; traditional italian dessert is impossible without ricotta. Pizza "Margarita", an unforgettable and infinitely delicious classic, owes its taste to a combination of greens, tomatoes and mozzarella cheese (photo).
Cheeses brought directly from Italy have a rather high price. But what about those who cannot afford them? Craftsmen will find a way out everywhere. For example, now the production of cheese has started on the territory of Belarus, and the technology completely repeats the one that is common on the original lands. Of course, this is not Italian cheese from Italy, but nevertheless the product is very worthy.