Just a short trip north of Verona near the town of Soave, stands a family owned cheese shop named La Casara Caseificio. It was my birthday, and I knew that this would be a birthday trip that I would always remember.
We entered the shop and gathered upstairs in the tasting room, where we were greeted by the owner Giovanni. He instructed us to put on our blue surgical booties as we prepared to go downstairs to see the cheese making process. We boarded the elevator and entered a hallway where the air was cool and everything was white and crisp. There were cheese molds on the tables waiting to find their homes on the aging shelves down below in the cellar.
One of these cheeses, Giallo Blu, I learned, is a semi soft cheese made with saffron, and is made with a combination of cows and goats milk. It has small blue cheese marbled streaks running through it, and is sent to another location to age to prevent the release of the spores that would negatively affect the other cheeses. This was one of the cheeses that I took home with me, and it's flavor is remarkable. The blue cheese and saffron are subtle, and the cheese is smooth and creamy, a perfect combination of so many interesting flavors.
We passed through a set of steel doors, and immediately the temperature changed. Hot water was draining all around us, traveling though channels in the floor, and the large steaming copper kettles were hard at work. It reminded me of my printmaking studio, with the machines and people working with such focus and rhythm. This process I have learned, is as much an artistic process as it is a culinary production. We watched as the cheese makers worked on different cheeses simultaneously moving from one step to the next.
The family's cows graze up high in the mountains, and the milk is collected daily and brought down to the shop below. The milk is stirred and heated until it begins to separate.
The curds are separated from the liquid, which is saved and used for other purposes. Next the cheese maker adds herbs like chives, for the Erba Cipollina Cheese, and they are mixed in with the curds.
He then fills the baskets and presses more water out of them.
La Casara is well known for their Monte Veronese cheese, which when aged, resembles a Grana Padano, or Parmaggiano Reggiano, though is much more subtle.
To produce this cheese, the milk is stirred with a large wisk revealing the curds as they rise to the surface.
Once the milk has cooked and separated, the copper kettle is tilted and the molds are wheeled over.
The cheese maker mixes and cuts the curds that have gathered on the bottom of the very hot kettle with a wire, and with his bare hands and carries each cube individually to the molds. At this point the cheese resembles a soft mozzarella.
Once the molds are filled and the water is pressed out the cheeses are stamped and left to dry and then brine in a cold room. Hundreds of cheeses could be seen floating in the salty liquid.
The cheeses are then brought down to the aging room where rows and rows of MonteVeronese cheeses sit patiently on the shelves in their various stages of aging.
Finally, we went into the tasting room where Giovanni presented us with four different cheeses to try.
The cheese below Formaggio Ubriaco or "drunk cheese" has been aged in wine and covered in grape skins.
We sampled some homemade prosciutto and salami, and of course had some white wine, and apricot jam to pair with our cheeses.
After our tasting we went down to the cheese shop to make some purchases. I forgot where I was for a brief moment and started gathering all kinds of wonderful meats and cheeses. The store was busy and had so many things to choose from. These are the kinds of places that make me appreciate the longer amounts of time that I have been able to spend in Italy.
I contained my excitement, and purchased the Giallo Blue, and the Monte Veronese, the owner vacuum sealed them for me to ensure that they would make the trip safely.
What a wonderful experience this trip was! And every time I taste the cheese that I brought home, a little part of me feels like I am back there again.
For a great list and descriptions of their cheeses...
