Provolone

Provolone or Provola is an Italian cheese / hard cheese type Filata with 44 % fat in dry .. Provolone Valpadana DOP enjoys the status of a protected designation of origin.

History

The production area of Provolone Valpadana today includes several northern Italian provinces. As Filata Provolone cheese, however, belongs originally to the family of southern Italian cheeses. According to historical sources, he comes from Lucania and took place during the Renaissance made ​​its way into the north of Italy. After the unification of Italy in 1861, then moved several southern Italian cheese maker in the fertile areas around the buttocks and began there, their traditional cheese, however, produce in greater quantity and variety of shapes. Only since the end of the 19th century appeared on the now common name Provolone, since it is also usual to produce it in larger loaves to a quintal. The DOP designation was awarded the cheese on 9 April 1993 since 12 June 1996, the cheese is protected across the EU ( PDO / PDO ). The Consorzio Tutela protection Provolone, founded in 1975 today includes (as of 2002) 30 producer companies that annually nearly 100,000 t Provolone Valpadana produce and label their cheese with the consortium characters in the form of plaque or seal as a guarantee of quality.

Variants

Provolone is available in many different forms in the trade, which are referred to with their own names. So there are cylindrical to sausage-shaped species called pancetta, Pancettone or Salamino, other forms are called Gigante, Gigantino or Gigantone and look like constricted cones. A smaller variety is called Topolino, spherical are the cultivars Mandarino, melon and Provole, even pear - or bottle-shaped forms are common. Depending on your taste and artistic inclination, there are also cheese, provolone cheese making in the shape of animals and other figures. The size of the loaves varies from 0.5 kg to 100 kg. The Provolone similar Ragusano the DOP is square and is considered its own type of cheese. The most common form of Provolone is round, oval or pear-shaped and is integrated with a cord and covered with a thin, smooth, yellow paraffin layer.

Provolone comes in two flavors. The Provolone dolce is gekäst with calf rennet and matured four weeks to three months when Tipo piccante Lab comes from sheep or goat, or a mixture of both used and maturity is at least three months, depending on the size and up to a year. Some types of provolone are also smoked.

Properties, use, and retention

Provolone is a semi-hard cheese from Fadenteig, the dough is firm, slightly elastic, white to light yellow in color and has few, irregular fracture holes and cracks. Its flavor is mild and creamy with type dolce, more to strong piccante in type.

His good melting and thread -forming properties make the provolone in the warm kitchen ideal for seasoning starters and main courses, it also goes well with vegetables, but also tastes cold on bread. Particularly ingenious placing the preparation as Carpaccio the fine taste for validity, this cheese is very thinly sliced ​​and served with a few splashes of olive oil, a little salt, freshly ground black pepper and fresh herbs. He is also part of the designated as Muffuletta sandwiches from New Orleans.

As an accompanying drink to whites are more suitable for the dolce, full-bodied red wines for the piccante.

Stored in the least cold compartment of the refrigerator itself Provolone also holds a longer time up to several weeks, with the natural maturation process progresses slowly. It is important to protect the cut surface with a film from drying out and every 2-3 days to deduct a disc to avoid mold growth. The cheese should be taken out of the refrigerator at least one hour before eating. He should For longer preservation, you can also freeze provolone ( about 3 months without loss of quality ), then thaw in the refrigerator overnight.

In Argentina and Uruguay is grilled provolone from domestic production in slices from 10 to 15 cm in diameter and 1-2 cm thick and typically at Asado before the meat, almost as an appetizer, eaten.