Provolone

Now we carry on our stay in the Lombardy region and come across this fantastically shaped, often lightly waxed cheese with a bit of history behind it...

Provolone

The history of this cheese is clouded in slight mystery but there are records of this style of cheese being made in ancient Roman times.

Provolone is made of cows milk.  Now traditionally this creamy looking stretched curd cheese is often waxed or if left to mature naturally, it will develop a natural hard yellow rind.It can be presented in many shapes and sizes ,but it's most familiar look ,is off a long large salami shape and can be often found tied up hanging at the back of any good cheese shop or delicatessen.

This cheese is aged for around 2-3 months and has a gorgeous smooth and supple texture...The taste is mild but it tweaks at the palate with a buttery and slightly mature after taste.  To me, this would be a perfect cheese to cook with as well as to eat on its own.  This would make a fantastic cheese toastie or for the decadent, a croque monsieur.  I can hear some of you scorn that how could I even think of cooking with such a cheese, but to be fair it really works and it doesn't lose any of its characteristic flavour during the cooking process

I  would really recommend you have a taste of this, if you see it at any good deli or cheese shop, you never know it could just tickle your fancy.

This cheese is a good all rounder and I could see both young and old enjoying this.  For this reason I will give Provolone a very solid 3.5.