Provolone Valpadana

Appearance & taste

Provolone Valpadana comes in many shapes and sizes: sausage- or melon-shaped, as a truncated cone or as a pear, also with a spherical head. The surface may show slight indentations from the strings with which the cheese is tied. The smooth, thin rind is light to golden yellow, sometimes yellowish brown; mild cheese intended for portioning does not need a rind.

The paste is usually straw-yellow and compact, with few holes. Slight cracks are typical of briefly ripened cheese; with longer ripening they increase considerably. With up to three months of ripening the cheese tastes mild. Ripened for longer, or made with kid or lamb rennet, it becomes distinctly more pungent. The fat content in the dry matter is between 44 and 54 %. The cheese may be smoked.

Sharp Provolone that is older than eight months and weighs over 30 kg can be assessed by experts at the producer’s request. If it passes, it receives the brand “P.V.S.” for Provolone Valpadana Stagionato. Among other things, the sound when tapped, the structure, the colour and a sharp but not salty taste are assessed.

Production

The milk comes from the production area and must be processed no later than 60 hours after milking. At least 75 % of the dry matter of the daily feed ration must be produced in the milk production area. Besides green fodder and hay, silage is also permitted.

The cheesemakers work with raw whole cow’s milk and with natural residual whey from the previous batch, which acidifies the milk. Permitted heat treatments are pasteurisation for the mild type and for sharp wheels of up to 6 kg, and thermisation for the sharp type. The cheesemakers use calf, kid or lamb rennet, individually or mixed. The cheese mass is then stretched and shaped into wheels. The minimum ripening time depends on the weight: 10 days up to 6 kg, 30 days above that and 90 days for sharp cheese over 15 kg. All steps take place in the area of origin.

Origin & history

The area covers part of the Po Valley, with large-scale fodder and milk production and a climate that is favourable for dairy farming. Pasta filata cheeses originally come from southern Italy. According to the specification, Provolone Valpadana has been made in the Po Valley since the second half of the 19th century; works by Besana (1916) and Fascetti (1923) document its spread in the north.

Unlike the smaller pasta filata cheeses of the south, which dry out as they ripen and become grating cheeses, the paste of Provolone Valpadana stays compact but not dry. The specification attributes the many shapes and the sometimes very large wheels to the manual skill of the local cheesemakers, who produce a particularly supple paste. Working with different types of rennet gave rise to the two flavour profiles, mild and sharp.