How Rare Caciocavallo Cheese Is Made In Italy

• Caciocavallo cheese is one of the most popular cheeses in Italy and it's famous for its signature elongated shape.
• In the caciocavallo family, there is one kind that is so rare that at times it can be even more expensive than the finest of Parmesans: caciocavallo Podolico.
• his special type of caciocavallo is made with the raw milk of Podolica cattle, a rare breed of cattle confined to a few areas where water is scarce and survival is difficult.

Following a transcript of the video.

Claudia Romeo: We're in San Nicandro Garganico, Italy, and today we're going to see how caciocavallo cheese is made. Caciocavallo is one of the most popular cheeses here in southern Italy, and it's famous for its elongated shape. What we're going to see today is a special kind of caciocavallo, the Podolico kind, which is made with the raw milk of Podolica cattle, a rare breed of cattle that is able to survive in the harshest conditions that we can find here. These conditions make their cheese one of the most expensive in Italy, sometimes even more expensive than the finest of Parmesans. Let's go find out more.

The Podolica cows that make this seaside cheese scatter all over as they roam, making it hard to tell that you're actually on a farm. Meet Virginio, one of only a handful of producers making the cheese we're here to learn about. He uses a recipe that his grandparents taught him, though the most important element of this recipe is location. Here in San Nicandro Garganico, we are only one kilometer from the sea and 100 meters above sea level. This is an important detail, and we'll soon know why. So, here we're almost by the seaside, by two saltwater lakes that are famous here in Puglia.

Virginio Frumenzio: We're between the Lesina and Varano lakes.

Claudia: And do these lakes have an influence?

Virginio: Yes, they have, because you basically have all microelements in the microenvironment: calcium, iodine, magnesium. We have it all at our disposal, so we don't need any dietary supplements.

Claudia: The Podolica produce only 3 to 6 liters of milk a day, which is much less than the 30 liters an average cow might produce. Today we're working with 50 liters. The environment in which the cows feed gives this milk a rich, earthy flavor. The whole cheesemaking process takes five hours. Virginio heats up the milk to 40 degrees, enough to warm it up but still keep it raw, which is essential to make this type of caciocavallo. If the milk were to become too warm, it would scorch and kill off the unique flavor that the Podolica cows' milk brings to this special cheese. He then adds rennet and fermented whey from yesterday's production, and after 20 minutes he starts cutting the curd. He aims for the size of a grain of rice. To do that, he uses this mushroom-looking tool, which is called menaturo -- a word that, as you may have guessed, comes from the local dialect.

Claudia: How come it has this mushroom-like shape?

Virginio: Basically, because it favors the cutting of the curd.

Claudia: Ah, OK. But all the tools I saw used to cut other cheeses, they have kind of a web.

Virginio: We use ancestral tools as well.

Claudia: Ah, OK. So this one, instead of being weblike, grill-like, it's more uniform.

Virginio: Yes, it's a piece of oleaster on the outside, and then a stick of wood.

Claudia: So this is the traditional tool for caciocavallo.

Virginio: Yes, yes. This one.

Claudia: Rather than slowly cutting the curd, to make caciocavallo, Virginio energetically slashes through it. This breaks it up into the small pieces he is hoping to achieve. We are used to seeing curd being extracted and then shaped into cheese right away, but here it actually rests further with some of its own warm whey to allow for more concentrated flavor to develop. Keeping the curd nice and warm will facilitate its fermentation. And while some other cheesemakers might use a steel vat for this process, here, Virginio uses a maple vat to ferment the cheese. This also impacts the flavor, adding notes of acidity that tickle your tongue as you eat. Virginio tells us this takes about one hour, but because it's winter, we ended up waiting for three hours instead. [liquid slooshing] The curd is ready to be stretched. Virginio takes out a bit of whey to keep as ferments for tomorrow. He then slices the curd in smaller parts, which will then be kneaded in hot water. In comparison to the stretched curd of mozzarella, this one will be harder. This is due to the waiting time as well as the size of the curd when it was cut.

Virginio: The flavor would also be different, because when the curd is hard, you'd get a softer aged cheese. When the curd is soft, you have a harder aged cheese.

Claudia: So there's more flavor in the cheese because it's concentrated in the curd.

Virginio: In the humid one, yes, because you are able to preserve the flavors.

Claudia: Whereas in a softer cheese like mozzarella, you would lose it a bit in milk. In water, yes. It also has more of a yellow color in comparison to the curd used for -

Virginio: It's the animals' nutrition.

Claudia: Ah, so it doesn't depend on the time it spent here, but it's really the color of the milk.

Virginio: No, no. This is the color of the milk, yes.

Claudia: So milk is not -

Virginio: Here you basically have all the beta-carotene, all the nutrients of green pasture. They're all here.

Claudia: So, let's say, as a rule of thumb, if milk is a bit more yellow, it means that there are more nutrients.

Virginio: Well said. It's richer in vitamins.

Claudia: Yes. So the image that we have of milk being nice and white, it actually isn't -

Virginio: Yes. It's skimmed, extra skimmed. At the end of the day, there is almost no milk left. There is a homogenization of flavors. Actually, when I was a kid I had a milk intolerance.

Claudia: Ah, really? You who make cheeses!

Virginio: Yes, and basically after a thousand attempts, my dad decided to give me cow's milk. So from my eighth day I've been drinking Podolica milk.

Claudia: Since you were 8 days old, basically.

Virginio: 8 days old.

Claudia: So you drink -

Virginio: Raw milk.

Claudia: The raw milk we used a few hours ago to make this.

Virginio: This is the milk I drink.

Claudia: Ah!

Virginio: Maybe this is why I care so much for them.

Claudia: Yes. It saved your life. Literally. Virginio then adds some hot water to the curd. He will shape it into two cheeses, each weighing 2.5 kilos. This process will be done completely by hand, so let's get comfortable. Perfect. He tells me this water is 100 degrees. Yes, Celsius. And judging by the color of his hands and the smoke around us, I don't envy him. Claudia: It's nice and warm here. It feels like being around a fireplace. It's so long, look. It's a long snake, basically. Why do the two heads have a different size?

Virginio: Because the head is saltier, so you don't eat it, actually.

Claudia: No, that is the best part! De gustibus, but -

Virginio: The best part is the heart.

Claudia: I am a big fan of the head where there's the rind. They're so good. Each cheese goes through different shapes before reaching its final one. Virginio has his personal signature shape, too. When Virginio's happy with the shape of the caciocavallo, he places it in cold water to set the shape and stop the fermentation. He then adds a rope around the cheeses' heads to tie the pair together.

Claudia: The characteristic is that they go in pairs?

Virginio: Yes. The convenience of caciocavallo is that you leave it to age without having to flip it over and over.

Claudia: Well, yes.

Virginio: Because when you have a cheese on a surface, you are forced to flip it to make sure each side dries evenly.

Claudia: And then the weight of one supports the other.

Virginio: Of course, they balance themselves.

Claudia: They are two twins. Once paired, the two cheeses move to bathe in brine. The time they spend here depends on weight. Every kilo needs 24 hours. These two new entries weigh 2.5 kilos, so they'll stay here for 60 hours. And when that time is over, their next destination is something unexpected. Why are we outside?

Virginio: This is a personal practice. I leave it to dry for a couple of hours beneath my lucky tree.

Claudia: Beneath the olive trees.

Virginio: This way the wind will also dry them a bit on the outside, and then it will be all nice and yellow. It's a superstition.

Claudia: Well, rightly so. The cows eat and breathe the air -

Virginio: And the same goes for the caciocavallo.

Claudia: Here's why they hang in pairs.

Virginio: They are mounted/over the hook, yes.

Claudia: Yes, ah. Here you go! So we also explained its meaning. "A cavallo" means "over the hook," hence the name of the cheese. The tree is actually the only time the cheeses will see some sunlight, as the pair will spend the rest of their aging days in caves. The minimum aging is six weeks, and the maximum two years. Today, Virginio has prepared a 6-month-old caciocavallo for us to taste. A cheese this old is worth $40 a kilo, which translates into just over $100 a piece.

Virginio: We have the external rind that is thrown away. We know that a caciocavallo is aged when this starts to become golden.

Claudia: Ah, yes. You can see it. The rind is very thick, and inside is very grainy.

Virginio: Yes, because the rind works basically like a container for the caciocavallo, for the actual cheese.

Claudia: So it's a bit like a cheese...a Parmesan, a Grana. A grainy cheese, basically. Thank you. It's good. Mm. You can feel the aromas. It's a bit salty, actually. Is this the brine?

Virginio: No.

Claudia: It's really the iodine. And the air from the land. You can feel it.

Virginio: If you pay attention, it's not table salt.

Claudia: Yes, yes. It's salt...sea salt, actually. Normally caciocavallo is softer, sweeter. This is a bit spicy too, isn't it?

Virginio: Yes.

Claudia: This is another effect of the local salty air.

Virginio: The place we live in.

Claudia: And so you normally eat it this way. I mean, not even with a piece of bread, just -

Virginio: With a bit of bread, or on its own. It's basically the cheese that closes the meal.