This cheese is simultaneously tasty and delicate. It is made in the same way as mozzarella but, while mozzarella is a fresh cheese, this is aged. If it is not aged for an extended period of time, it has a sweet flavor of milk and butter. If it does properly age, the ideal spice and aromas are present.
Unifying North and South
The provolone was created after the unification of Italy in 1861. It was then that the expert makers of mozzarella from the south moved to the north, introducing their technique to places like Brescia, Piacenza and Cremona (in Lombardy), and then to the rest of Italy.
Always a soft cheese
The name provolone comes from the Italian word prova (proof), which later became provola. This was the name of the first stage of the cheese that still needed to be checked for proper density and softness. In 1871, the name provolone was added for the first time in the Italian dictionary.
This cheese is special because it is always soft and never really dries out, even after a long aging process. This is also why it cannot be grated, like other aged cheeses.
The ancient age of “stretching” the cheese
Stretching the cheese is still regarded as an important phase of the production of provolone. From the container, a ribbon of curd is extracted and spun on itself to make sure that there is no air trapped inside. It is then molded like a sculpture to form its shape (round, pear-shaped, or cylindrical) and its size (from a few ounces to several pounds). If it is large enough to warrant it, the provolone is caged with twine.
The right wine
With the sweet, young provolone, the best wine is a white like Vermentino or Frascati, or a red like Chianti, Lagrein, and Rosso Piceno.
With the spicier provolone, it is best to opt for more intense white wines such as Soave, Verdicchio, the Tuscan Vernaccia di San Gimignano, and Gavi from Piedmont; or red wines like Barbera d’Asti, Nobile di Montepulciano, and Primitivo di Manduria.
