foody – Page 39

19.02.2018

This cheese is a type of stretched-curd cheese made out of sheep’s or cow’s milk. It is made with cow’s milk in designated areas of Southern Italy, in the regions of Basilicata, Calabria, Campania, Molise and Puglia and gained protected geographical status, since 1993.

Many different types of caciocavallo exist in Italy and several are recognized as P.A.T. (“Prodotto agroalimentare tradizionale”, traditional regional food product), for example Caciocavallo podolico or Caciocavallo di Godrano, but only Caciocavallo Silano has the better Protected geographical status (PDO).

While it is generally produced throughout Southern Italy, over the wide area of Apennine Mountains and of the Gargano peninsula, only in Calabria it is shaped like a tear-drop, very similar in taste to the aged Southern Italian Provolone cheese, with a hard edible rind.

The origins of the Italian name of caciocavallo are literally in the expression “horse cheese”, but it is thought that the name derives from Latin “cascabellus” with the meaning of “sleigh bell” for its shape of a hanging ball.

Caciocavallo was first mentioned around 500 BC by Hippocrates.

16.02.2018

One of the most known sausages and salami labelled in Calabrian DOPs is, certainly, “Soppressata”. Among them stands out the Calabrian “sorpressata”, because in Calabria, and generally in the south of Italy, this salami is part of southern Italian cultural heritage, much more than in the north.

“Soppressata di Calabria” enjoys protected designation of origin status, as in example that one produced in Acri and Decollatura, highly renowned.

And, even if there are many variations, and only two principal types are made (a cured dry sausage typical of Basilicata, Apulia, and Calabria, and a very different uncured salame, made in Tuscany and Liguria), only Calabrian Soppressata is the Italian dry salami that has an international success.