Food, Wine, Cheese....The Tastes of Northern Italy in 5 Parts...Mangia!-Part 4

Part 4: Trip of Cheese!  A trip to La Casara Caseificio

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...

Food, Wine, Cheese....The Tastes of Northern Italy in 5 Parts...Mangia!-Part 2

 Part Two:  A trip into the Pre-Alps, and Lago di Garda.

One of our food and wine excursions led us to the region of Trentino, northeast of Lake Garda.  This route took us up through the Pre-Alps and towards the Brenner Pass, the border between Italy and Austria.  This awe inspiring landscape of mountains and vineyards began to suggest a different historical and cultural region.  The Austrian influence could really be felt here, in both the architectural details of the buildings and in the terrain itself.   

We arrived at the family run De Tarczal Winery which sits along the river Adige, in Marano.  It was a beautifully clear, sunny day, and the inside courtyard was in full bloom with colorful hanging arrangements and trailing grape vines. 

Wonderful little historic details could be spotted everywhere, as the property had once been owned by an admiral in the Austro-Hungarian army.  The winery was named for the wine-growing village of Tarzcal in Hungary.  

Below the old stone floor, we toured the fragrant wine cellars, and arched aging room filled with large wooden barrels.

We then ventured up to the tasting room to sample a variety of different wines, and some really delicious Chardonnay and Marzemino wine jellies.

The selection was really interesting including both red and white wines.  We tasted Chardonnay, Moscato Giallo, Pinot Bianco, and Marzemino Superiore, a red wine of the Trentino region.  According to De Tarzcal's description "Even Mozart was enchanted with the character of Marzemino with its gentle fragrance and taste of forest berries and sang in "Don Giovanni" about this typical wine of the valley Isera."

After our tasting, we went next door to the family's restaurant for lunch. 

Our meal was delicious.  We started with a cured beef, drizzled with lemon juice, olive oil, and shaved parmigiano, followed by polenta with tiny mushrooms, and then savory bread and leek gnocchi in a light butter and cheese sauce.  We also had a chance to try the winery's specialty wine, Selezione Husar, a "pure Marzemino" and of course it was delicious.  I left that day with a selection of the wine jellies to take home.

After lunch we drove south down the east side of Lake Garda.  We passed through all of the summer vacation towns, as people gathered along the water's edge, mountains standing proudly in the background.

We stopped to walk around in the beautiful little vacation town of Malcesine, with it's little shops, restaurants along the water, and villas sitting high above on the hillside.

A few days later, we took a short 15 minute drive from the Borgo San Donino to the town of Sirmione, on the south side of Lake Garda.  The town is rich in history, known for its Scaliger Castle, Ancient Roman Villas, and Thermal Baths.  We happened to be there on a weekend, so the town was bustling with Italian vacationers, and it also happened to be the day of the Grilled Sardine festival.

We walked around the town, dipped our toes in the lake, and then took a boat ride around the peninsula.  The water was a bright blue-green and the sun was crystal clear and bright.  There couldn't have been a better way to spend such a beautiful summer day! 

On the way back into the town, we passed through the fortress and had to duck our heads as we passed under the old draw bridge.

What a wonderful introduction to the Lago di Garda region!  Stay tuned for our adventures in the Balsamic region of Modena, Cheese making (and tasting) and more wine in Soave!  Ciao for now!