Caciocavallo is a pear-shaped semi-hard stretched curd cow’s milk cheese with flavour ranging from delicate to spicy.
It is produced throughout Southern Italy, particularly in the Apennine Mountains. It is similar in taste to the aged Southern Italian Provolone cheese, with a hard edible rind. Caciocavallo Podolico is a variety of caciocavallo that is produced using only milk from the Podolica cattle breed. Apparently caciocavallo was mentioned the first time around 500BC by Hippocrates, emphasising the “Greeks’ cleverness in making cheese”. Types of cheese with names similar to “caciocavallo” are common throughout the Balkans and Southern Italy.
Caciocavallo Silano DOP is made with cow’s milk in designated areas of Southern Italy, in the regions of Puglia, Basilicata, Calabria, Campania and Molise and gained protected geographical status in 1993.
