BURRATA
Product Type: Traditional
Product category: Cheese
Product description: It is a very fresh cheese. Product of spherical shape of about 7-10 cm, worked manually with filling of cream and pieces of spun dough contained inside a wrapping also of spun dough. For the realization of the Burrata, 50% fresh cow’s milk is used; rennet, whey (product leaving acidify part of the production of the previous day). The appearance of the Burrata has an absent crust, a smooth and shiny surface evenly, of a milky white color, a fibrous structure with overlapping layers, which releases by slashing and lightly milky liquid pressure. The paste may have gaps in which said liquid accumulates. No holes. The color is homogeneous milk white, free from spots or streaks. The taste is typical, savory, of fresh dairy, delicately acidic, tending sweet. The smell is characteristic, typical of the cream, of dairy, delicate fragrant, of slightly acidic milk.
Traditional product history: Originally it was made from cow’s milk from the podolica breed. Today it is preferred to use the milk of the Frisian race, cheaper.
Notes: It should be consumed within 5 days of production. In the kitchen it lends itself to different preparations: it can be roughly cut and mixed with a cold pasta salad; or combine it with raw sausages such as speck; excellent if combined with a mixture of vegetables, such as zucchini, escarole, chicory …
CHEESE
Product Type: Traditional
Product category: Cheese
Production period: Seasonal, mostly from October to May.
Product description: The cheese is a cheese made from sheep’s milk or even goat’s milk. It has a circular shape. Fresh it has a golden yellow color, more buttery, sapid and with a pleasant smell. Seasoned has dark brown crust. Compact, tenacious and dry pasta. Intense flavor sometimes spicy. Pleasant smell.
CACIOCAVALLO
Product Type: Traditional
Product category: Cheese
Production period: Seasonal, mostly from October to May
Product description: Caciocavallo is a fresh cheese made from whole cow’s milk, rennet and salt. It has a pear shape with a head. Thin crust, more or less intense yellow, easily detachable from the rest. The pasta is compact with very few eyes, a pasty and not very elastic structure. Straw-white color. The initially sweet taste becomes spicy when aged.
Notes: It is so called because the cheese forms are tied two by two and left to mature on a perch as support as if they were … on horseback. It can be consumed up to 6 months from production. In the kitchen it can be consumed either as it is or to flavor Mediterranean cuisine like spaghetti with aubergine sauce and cherry tomatoes.
CACIOCAVALLO PODOLICO DAUNO
Product Type: Traditional
Product category: Cheese
Production areas: In Puglia the production of this cheese affects the Gargano area, more precisely the municipalities of Cagnano Varano, Carpino, Ischitella, Lesina, Mattinata, Monte Sant’Angelo, Rignano Garganico, Rodi Garganico, San Giovanni Rotondo, San Marco in Lamis, Sannicandro Garganico, Vico del Gargano and Vieste, and both the Sub Appennino Dauno area, in the province of Foggia.
Production period: Seasonal
Product Description: It is a cheese obtained from the milk of podolic cows and derived cows raised in the wild and semi-wild pasture. It has a pear shape with a head. Presents semi-hard, thin crust, smooth, glossy. Alabaster yellow color and crumbly paste, scaly when well seasoned, sometimes porous and of an intense yellow color; savory and spicy flavor. The more mature it is, the more it acquires complex, broad aromas of pasturage and spices and an inimitable taste persistence
Notes: It can season for a very long period, even 5-6 years. It is a table-only and not a cooking cheese.
CACIOCAVALLO SILANO DOP
Product Type: DOP
Product category: Cheese
Production areas: Caciocavallo Silano is produced in Puglia, Calabria, Basilicata, Campania and Molise.
Product description: “Caciocavallo silano” is a semi-hard cheese with spun dough produced exclusively from whole cows’ milk coming from farms located in the production area provided for by the specification. It has an oval or truncated-conical shape, with head or without, respecting of local customs, with the presence of inlets depending on the position of the ties. The weight is between 1 kg and 2,500 kg; the rind is thin, smooth, with a marked straw color, the surface can have light inlets due to the ties placed in relation to the binding methods. It has a homogeneous paste, compact with very slight holes, of a white or straw yellow color, more intense on the outside and less loaded inside. It has an aromatic, pleasant taste, fuses in the mouth, normally delicate and generally sweet when the cheese is young, until it becomes spicy when ripe.
Elements: Remove from the brine the forms are tied in pairs with appropriate links and suspended with some poles in order to obtain seasoning. The minimum duration of the maturing period is 30 days, but may last longer.
Traditional history of the product: Cheese known since the time of Magna Graecia, historically produced mainly in the territories of diffusion of the autochthonous cattle breeds of southern Italy.
Notes: The etymology of the denomination “Caciocavallo Silano” derives from the name of the Sila plateau, a name that has prevailed for long time in the production area and in the consumer markets. The name Caciocavallo derives from the consolidated maturing technique of the product that is placed, tied in pairs, “on horseback” of a support.
CACIORICOTTA
Product Type: Traditional
Product category: Cheese
Product description: It is a fresh cheese made from cow’s milk or goat’s milk or sheep’s milk. The cacioricotta, has its origins in the pastoral civilization. It is a cheese created by the skilled technique of mixing cow’s milk, available in different periods, processed manually, subjected to natural and dry salting. The same technique is used for cacioricotta made with sheep’s or goat’s milk. It has a round shape, a granular structure, an absent crust, a rough and dense surface that is homogeneously white in color, a granular structure without holes; It has a homogeneous white milk color, free from spots or streaks, a typical, savory taste of fresh, delicately acidic cheese, a characteristic, delicate fragrant smell of slightly sour milk. If aged, it is pale yellow in color, while the pasta remains white. The structure loses softness and becomes friable. Sapidity and smell depend on the milk used.
Notes: It should be kept in the fridge and consumed within 10 days. In the kitchen it is used to flavor pasta based on orecchiette pasta with sauce or spaghetti with fagliolini served with fresh tomato sauce.
CANESTRATO PUGLIESE DOP (CANESTRATO FOGGIANO OR PECORINO DAUNO)
Product Type: DOP
Product category: Cheese
Production areas: The area of production and maturing includes the entire administrative territory of the province of Foggia and that of 16 municipalities belonging to the province of Bari: Altamura, Andria, Bitonto, Canosa, Cassano, Corato, Gravina di Puglia, Grumo Appula , Minervino Murge, Modugno, Poggiorsini, Ruvo di Puglia, Santeramo, Spinazzola, Terlizzi and Toritto.
Description of the product: Canestrato Pugliese is a raw hard cheese made from whole sheep’s milk of a gentile breed of Puglia, whose origins are linked to the merinos breed. The name of this cheese derives from the rush baskets in which it is season. And these baskets of rushes, the so-called fiscelle, are one of the most traditional products of the Apulian craftsmanship. The processing of the Canestrato Pugliese takes place with a characteristic technology deriving from the Apulian dairy tradition. This is a very long process, depending on the size of the shapes, ranging from 7 to 14 kilos. In the processing period, the shapes are enclosed in the rush baskets which give the characteristic roughness of the crust, and in these are pressed to release excess moisture. Salting, which is the fundamental procedure for preparation, is carried out dry with coarse sea salt (typical of the salt pans of Margherita di Savoia), spread around the shape. Once removed from the baskets, the forms are left to mature in fresh environments. During the maturation phase (at least 90 days) the forms are repeatedly turned and brushed. At the end, the hard and thick crust is treated with extra virgin olive oil. The maturation time goes from a minimum of 3 months to be consumed fresh, up to about 10 months for grating use. The taste, more delicate in the fresh and more intense in the one with prolonged seasoning, is decided and slightly spicy. Its flavor derives not only from the type of pasture and milk, mainly from dried lamb rennet and with great care preserved with dried peels of oranges, lemons and nettle leaves.
Notes: Canestrato Pugliese PDO is well suited to various combinations, depending on the stage of maturation achieved. The young Canestrato Pugliese is widely used in combination with fava beans, pear or raw vegetables in pinzimonio accompanied by dry and still white or rosé wines, such as Locorotondo, San Severo white, Fiano d’Avellino, Rosa del Golfo or Rosatello Antinori. The ripe Canestrato Pugliese is to be preferred grated over dry pasta dishes with meat sauce or rolls. It is considered second course if accompanied by celery, chicory, black olives and radishes served chipped by the shape. The wines to be paired are certainly structured reds and aged, so the Cabernet, Chianti, Salice Salentino del Conero never however have too much tannic wines.
GOAT
Product Type: Traditional
Product category: Cheese
Production areas: The province of Lecce
Product description: It is a fresh cheese made from raw goat’s milk. It has a flattened cylindrical shape, a rough surface and a savory flavor. If fresh it has no crust, white color, soft paste of white color. If aged it has a thick and hard crust, straw-yellow color, hard paste with holes and yellowish color.
Notes: It should be kept in the fridge. In the kitchen it has a versatile use. It can be used in the preparation of starters, snacks or even as an ingredient in particular desserts.
JUNKET
Product Type: Traditional
Product category: Cheese
Product description: It is a fresh cheese made from cow’s milk, sheep’s milk, goat’s or sheep’s milk with the addition of liquid lamb rennet or veal. It has a cylindrical or fusiform shape, typical of the fiscella in which pasta is put. It has a soft, white consistency, taste and sweet smell of butter.
Notes: It should be kept in the fridge
MANTECA
Product Type: Traditional
Product category: Cheese
Product description: Butter made from the first ricotta with raw whey and covered with semi-hard spun paste, egg-shaped and weighing 500 gr.
Elements: Obtained the butter, it is beaten to allow the water to drain and becomes oval and then cover it with soft dough. The salting takes place in brine for 24h.
Notes: It should be kept in the fridge
MOZZARELLA OR FIOR DI LATTE
Product Type: Traditional
Product category: Cheese
Product description: It is a very fresh cheese. Product of round shape of about 7-10 cm of diameter. If smaller, it is called “Bocconcino”, if longer it takes the name “Treccia”. The consistency is elastic and the paste is white. crust absent, smooth and shiny surface evenly, fibrous structure with overlapping sheets. The paste may have gaps in which said liquid accumulates. No holes. When it is cut, the whey comes out; the taste is sweet, the smell is fresh. For its preparation, raw cow’s milk is used, which is filtered with cotton cloths and placed in copper or steel boilers. It coagulates by adding veal rennet.
Notes: It should be consumed within 4-5 days from production. In the kitchen it lends itself to endless raw and cooked elaborations. Excellent if cut into slices, it is covered with slices of fresh tomatoes and seasoned with oil, pepper, rocket or basil.
PECORINO CHEESE
Product Type: Traditional
Product category: Cheese
Production area: All of Puglia, with prevalence of the area of the Murgia of Bari and the Appennino dauno
Product description: It is a seasoned cheese. It has a cylindrical shape. Fresh has a thin crust, golden yellow color, a light yellow colored soft dough, a delicate smell and a sweet taste. Stagionato has a thick crust, of a nutty color, a tough and dry paste with a more marked eye. The paste is an intense yellow color, with a pronounced smell and a marked and sometimes spicy flavor
Notes: It is so called because made from sheep’s milk. This cheese is distinguished by the aroma of basic milk due to the strong presence of aromatic herbs in the Apulian pastures.
PECORINO DI MAGLIE
Product Type: Traditional
Product category: Cheese
Production areas: The area of the Low Salento between “Serre Salentine”, Otranto, Maglie and Poggiardo
Product description: It is a cheese made with raw milk of sheep of Lecce breed, liquid lamb rennet. It has a round shape with a diameter of 12-14 cm. The fresh pecorino cheese has a straw yellow color, a soft consistency, a sweet taste and irregular holes. The aged pecorino cheese (10-12 cm) has a hazelnut crust, a pronounced and precise smell and a spicy flavor.
Elements: For the preparation, raw sheep’s milk is placed in tinned copper boilers inside, with special filters or with cotton sheets filtered, then put it in direct heat with the addition of liquid rennet. The coagulation occurs in about 45 min, after another 20 min. the curd is broken.
PECORINO FOGGIANO
Product Type: Traditional
Product category: Cheese
Production areas: The province of Foggia
Product description: It is a cheese matured with sheep’s milk mainly kept on pasture. It has a cylindrical shape. It may have a light yellow-colored soft paste or a hard paste with a firmer, yellowish color.
SCAMORZA
Product Type: Traditional
Product category: Cheese
Product description: It is a raw cheese, like spun paste mozzarella. It is produced with raw cow’s milk. It has a pear shape with a short neck or head. It has a thicker paste than the mozzarella, although it is soft and buttery. It has a homogeneous ivory white color if fresh, or has a yellow color tending to ocher if it is smoked. Delicate aroma, sweet taste, slightly savory. For the smoked scamorza treccione or tarallo forms are allowed.
Notes: The term derives from the action of cutting off the cheese head at the time of consumption. In the kitchen it can be used, for example, sliced in circular sections and then cooked on the plate, or to flavor oven-baked pastries.
SHEEP SCAMORZA
Product Type: Traditional
Product category: cheeses
Product description: It is a cheese, obtained from sheep’s milk, semi-cooked pasta and spun manually, not subjected to stewing and salted in brine at rapid maturation. It is an elastic or compact white product. If aged it has thin and smooth crust of yellow color. Pear-shaped with head, diameter 6/12 cm, height 10. Flavor sweet or savory depending on the level of seasoning.
VACCINE
Product Type: Traditional
Product category: Cheese
Product description: It is a cheese, obtained from cow’s milk. It has a cylindrical shape. The signs of the fiscella are imprinted on the surface. The fresh one has a very thin straw yellow rind. The pasta is compact, tender and white in color. Sweet taste and delicate smell. The seasoned one has the thickest and hardest crust, light brown color, the straw yellow paste initially becomes cream towards the end of the maturing. The holes are more evident with the passing of the seasoning.
Notes: Inherits the name from the type of milk from which it is obtained.
RICOTTA CHEESE
Product Type: Traditional
Product category: Products of animal origin
Product description: It is a very fresh cheese. Product with a truncated conical shape with a diameter of about 8-15 cm and a height of 5-18 cm. Its texture is creamy and not very consistent, the rind is absent, has no holes. The taste is slightly sweet and the smell is delicate. The ingredients are pasteurized milk, whey and salt. The ricotta is obtained by the annealing of the whey (liquid residue obtained after the coagulation of the milk made from the rennet – the water that remains after producing the mozzarella). Seasonally, salted ricotta is also produced with whey from sheep’s and goat’s milk. Notes: It should be consumed within 5 days of production. In the kitchen its use is the most varied both raw and cooked. Excellent as a condiment for rustic pizzas or essential in the typical Apulian dish “ravioli con ricotta”.
STRONG RICOTTA
Product Type: Traditional
Product category: Products of animal origin
Production period: All year round, mostly from October to May
Product description: It is a creamy, spreadable cheese made from seasoned sheep’s milk. It has a cream color, a very strong and decisive odor and a spicy flavor.
Notes: Ties well in tomato sauces. Excellent as an ingredient for stuffing meat, tomato and onion pizza with olives. Teases the appetite if spread on toast or toasted bread, along with cherry tomatoes, anchovy and extra virgin olive oil.
RICOTTA MARZOTICA LECCESE
Product Type: Traditional
Product category: Products of animal origin
Production areas: The province of Lecce
Production period: From February to May
Product description: It is a specialty of ricotta produced in early spring when the flocks are grazing the softest forage and produce the most tasty milk. It has a truncated conical shape with a height of 7-15 cm. It is of average diameter of 10-15 cm. Surface of green color. The structure of the dough is crumbly and inelastic, the taste is sapid with a characteristic smell. It is left to age for 10-20 days in well ventilated and fresh rooms. After the grassing it is again seasoned for 10 days.
Elements: The production technique of this cheese is quite special. The ricotta in fact after it has been attributed the form is rolled in a layer of herbs, usually leaves of grasses, until the surface is not completely covered. This procedure is called “grassing”.
SALTED OR MARZOTIC RICOTTA
Product Type: Traditional
Product category: Products of animal origin
Production areas: The provinces of Bari, Brindisi, Foggia and Taranto
Product description: It has a truncated conical or cylindrical shape, a height of about 20 cm and an average diameter of 15 cm. Surface of white color or it can take brown color when covered by a layer of bran. The structure is crumbly and inelastic. The salty taste with vague memory of starting serum.
Elements: The maturation takes place in underground rooms “u casler” natural caves located in the rock of the Murgia below the level of the countryside. Often these are artificial premises very similar for conditions to natural ones. In some areas we proceed to the process of adding a uniform layer of durum wheat bran to the whole surface of the form. In this case a minimum seasoning period of one month is required and consumption must take no longer than 10-12 months.
Notes: It is used as a grater product.