December 27, 2003
Bella Italia
Editor's note:
A few weeks ago, my friend and fellow cheese enthusiast Christine traveled to Italy. She toured around for a while, enjoying the historical sights and, of course, the cheese. On her gastronomical tour, she encountered such exotic items as Pecorino Fresco, and a Testun made from raw milk. I am green with envy! Not able to travel to Italy myself, I suppose my taste buds will just have to savor vicariously through hers. And now, I present to you an exclusive account of her cheese adventures... read it and drool, my friends.
(Many thanks to Christine for letting me post her story and her pictures.)
-Anne
My husband and travel companion asks, “Should we claim it?” The flight
attendant walks by our seats and we hush.
The question at hand concerned vacuum packed items in our carry-on suitcase:
Italian cheese. A few of the wedges, unpasteurized cheeses. A few
kilograms, sealed away and hidden underneath our toiletries and outer
garments. We’d traveled for a week in Rome, with a day visit to Florence
and back by car. Our bodies were tired, but our mind rich with sights and
tastes. I felt a guilty delight in what I carried home.
At home, post-jetlag, we unloaded some of our bounty: Pecorino Romano, a
very remarkable Testun Piemontese del Valli, a Gorgonzola, as well as a very
wieldy kilogram wedge of Parmigiano.
As I pierce the vacuum-pack seals, I’m hit with a gorgeous stink. It could
be called a “strong aroma,” or “barnyard-y.” Either is accurate yet not
enough of a descriptor. Unlike pasteurized cheese, which has its aroma
cooked away, there is a wild intensity to this batch already!
And the flavor of the cheeses? A richness, like in the discernable
difference between raw milk (if you’ve had it, you’ve been blessed -- I think it
tastes wonderful) and blander pasteurized, homogenized milk. There is
an extra something there in the flavor, almost a taste of the animal itself
and the grasses it has fed upon!
I’m taken back to our journey in Italy, a place that does not allow genetically modified foods, with its open air food markets and slow food movement. Even in winter, its mild climate produces a plethora of fruits and vegetables like the piles of artichokes at Campo d’Fiori, an open air market in Rome. Or the green hills of Umbria and Tuscany, on our drive to Florence! (The fields of sheep outnumbered cows, from my highway observation). Certainly not as picturesque in Winter as I would imagine Spring, Summer, or Autumn, but a foggy beauty still, that reminded me of Napa Valley.
Delights abounded, and it was hard for me to stay focused on one thing on my
first visit to Italy, even cheese, as I was surrounded and stimulated by many interests: architecture I’ve admired since high school art history class as well as fashions and the general jolly disposition of Italians! As a result, there were things (cheese-related and not) I missed.
There are a few regrets on my part. I did not have the time to visit
Volpetti, a very well stocked salumeria on the outskirts of Rome, known for its fantastic stock of cheeses.
I missed the cheese in Orvieto, a medieval hill town on the border of Umbria
and Tuscany famous for its Duomo. Having traveled through Umbria and
Tuscany to Florence quite early in the week, I was severely jetlagged. I
was asleep when we approached Orvieto in the car, a pleasant but unplanned
surprise stop from our chauffeur. It was well after sunset, and very chilly
and as I walked barely awake through the spooky medieval dark streets of
Orvieto with my husband. It was like a dream, and cheese was secondary in
my fascinated mind and chilled body. The next morning, as I read about
Orvieto in the travel guide in our Rome hotel room, I discovered to my
dismay that it is a town well known for its white wine…and dammit, cheese.
I will have to return someday!
But I was also hit with some luck. Tuscan Pecorino Fresco in Florence! The discovery of Testun from Piedmont at Franchi delicatessen on Via Cola di Rienza by the Vatican.
The Testun:
Testun means “testone” translated into “stubborn” or “hard head.” It’s a mountain cheese made from a blend of raw cow’s and sheep’s milk. I’ve heard that it’s come back into recent popularity. Impressions: straw colored with a light brown rind, and a strong aroma. Big flavor, creamy, complicated flavor delicate, with a strong lasting finish (the finishing taste is like a parmigiano). Pleasantly salty. Made in Piedmont, in the mountainous areas. This is now one of my favorite cheeses. It reminds me a little of the Abbay de Belloc.
The Pecorino Romano:
Pecorino is the name given to all Italian cheeses made from sheep’s milk (“pecora” meaning sheep in Italian). The one I picked up was a Pecorino Romano in Rome, all cheeses made from the Rome area. It has a sharp sharp taste, almost like blue cheese, very granular, with a strong aroma. The texture is granular and very hard, like a parmigiano. The cheese color is similar to Parmigiano, but a lighter yellow, strawish color, with a pale hard rind. This particular cheese was very robust, salty, tangy. The flavor strengthens until it makes my mouth pucker a bit, more than a strong cheddar. I would definitely recommend this particular cheese with a strong full bodied red wine.Given this cheese’s general availability in the San Francisco Bay Area, I bought some Pecorino Romano at A.G. Ferrari to compare with the cheese hand carried from Rome. There are a few differences, namely the aroma and the complexity in taste. The texture and general impressions are the same.
The Tuscan Pecorino Fresco:
I picked up this cheese while in Florence at a small salumeria (deli). Pecorino Fresco is a sheep’s milk made only between September and June. Tuscan Pecorini are smaller and milder than other Pecorini. We ate it with a sourdough baguette over the next few days as our afternoon snack. It is a mild cheese, with a strong taste of fresh milk. The pecorino fresco is very mild overall, but slightly sharp at first, mellowing out to a very creamy light finish almost like butter. Having it for breakfast one morning (yes), I have some of the warm whole milk delivered on our room service tray, and it echoes the first flavor waves of the pecorino. This is a beautiful cheese, and goes especially well with some Prosciutto di Parma.