Caciocavallo Silano

Appearance & taste

Caciocavallo Silano is oval or elongated conical, with or without a “little head” depending on local tradition, and bears notches where the cords sat with which the cheese is tied together. It weighs between 1 and 2.5 kg. Only pre-packed cheese in slices, cubes or grated may be cylindrical or rectangular. The rind is thin, smooth and a strong straw yellow; it may be treated with transparent, colourant-free agents. The paste is even and compact with few holes, white or straw-yellow, more strongly coloured on the outside than inside. The cheese contains at least 38 % fat in dry matter.

The taste is savoury and pleasant, and the cheese melts on the tongue. When young it is usually delicate and rather sweetish; as ripening progresses it becomes sharper. According to the specification, this is due to the mainly used kid rennet. Cheese ripened for at least four months may bear the term “Extra”, cheese ripened for at least nine months “Gran Riserva”. Every wheel receives a dot-shaped brand with the logo and the producer’s number.

Production

At least 50 % of the dairy cows’ feed (as dry matter per year) comes from the area. Green fodder makes up about 45 % of the ration; at least 70 % of it must come from the area. Feed from outside is allowed because farming and pasture land in the area are declining, wild boar damage the turf and the forest is spreading.

Raw cow’s milk is processed, or milk that has been heated in the dairy for 30 seconds to at most 58 °C. It is curdled at 36 to 38 °C with rennet paste from kids and calves; refined natural whey from the same dairy is also allowed, whose own microflora helps shape aroma and flavour. The milk is processed only briefly so that the aroma compounds in the milk fat are preserved. The cheese is shaped from stretched curd and ripens for at least 30 days. Milk production, processing, cheesemaking and ripening take place in the area; the ripened cheese may also be packed elsewhere.

Origin & history

According to the specification, the cheese was already known in the time of Magna Graecia, and as early as around 500 BC Hippocrates wrote about the Greeks’ art of making “Cacio”. It was made mainly in southern Italy from the milk of native cattle breeds such as Podolica, Bruna, Alpina, Frisona and Pezzata and their crosses. The name “Caciocavallo” comes from the ripening: two cheeses at a time are tied together and hung “astride” a pole. “Silano” refers to the Sila plateau in Calabria, where the cheese originally comes from.

When there were no permanent sheds yet, it was made in the Sila only in spring and summer in the shepherds’ small wooden huts, the “Vaccarizzi”; the method was laborious because the cheese had to keep for a long time. In 1811 the Napoleonic census “Statistica murattiana” described two kinds of “Caciocavalli” for Calabria, of which those called “Raschi” were said to be more tender and tasty. Today the cheese is produced along the southern Apennines in Calabria, Apulia, Campania, Molise and Basilicata.