A brief admission, if I may:
This is not the best truffle cheese. It is also not the worst. Why do I introduce the magical world of truffle-infused cheeses to you with a picture of mediocrity? Why does one wait until after the first bite to add salt and pepper to a dish? So that he or she may appreciate the seasoning the more for it.
Cheese and life lessons, it's pretty much an all-purpose blog.
Back in the realm of things you actually clicked here today to read, allow me to finally give to you Caciotta al Tartufo, the first in a series of truffle cheeses. Truffle, to those fortunate enough to have come across it, is a tuber of almost other-worldly flavor-imparting powers. It's like Peter Parker's radioactive spider, except if Spiderman was a cheese, and the spider was a umami-packed plant, and the plot involved Spiderman going really well with medium to bold red wines. Produced, as the name would suggest, in Italy, Caciotta al Tartufo curds are mixed with Umbrian black truffle shavings to create an enticing looking paste and a decent, if perhaps not incredible, flavor.
Origin: Italy
Milk: Cow and sheep, pasteurized
Rennet: Animal
Affinage: ~2 months
Notes: The quality of the truffles used is going to play a huge role in the end product and, unfortunately, Caciotta al Tartufo didn't get the prime cuts.
Thoughts: So you go tossing around a name like "al Tartufo" and people are going to get excited. One would hope that anything "al Tartufo" would be a delight. Burger al tartufo: yes please. Ice cream al tartufo: sign me up. Chocolate milkshake al tartufo: Mercy. Burrito al tartufo: Challenge accepted.
Cheese would also fall into the category of "yes please and thank you", but not all that glitters is worth eating. On the whole this cheese, while certainly good, leaves something to be desired. It is a mixed milk cheese, but it lacks a strong showing from either category. Notably absent is the oily richness that can make sheep cheese so desirable, the same with a strong or worthy creaminess from the cow's milk. The truffle flavor, while present, fails to live up to the grandeur typically associated with everyone's favorite tuber. That isn't to say it's not a tasty bite, but for true truffle titillation one must track the tuber's true.... true........ dangit. You've got to look farther.
Bob Dylan, man....
Bob Dylan.
This is not the best truffle cheese. It is also not the worst. Why do I introduce the magical world of truffle-infused cheeses to you with a picture of mediocrity? Why does one wait until after the first bite to add salt and pepper to a dish? So that he or she may appreciate the seasoning the more for it.
Cheese and life lessons, it's pretty much an all-purpose blog.
Back in the realm of things you actually clicked here today to read, allow me to finally give to you Caciotta al Tartufo, the first in a series of truffle cheeses. Truffle, to those fortunate enough to have come across it, is a tuber of almost other-worldly flavor-imparting powers. It's like Peter Parker's radioactive spider, except if Spiderman was a cheese, and the spider was a umami-packed plant, and the plot involved Spiderman going really well with medium to bold red wines. Produced, as the name would suggest, in Italy, Caciotta al Tartufo curds are mixed with Umbrian black truffle shavings to create an enticing looking paste and a decent, if perhaps not incredible, flavor.
Milk: Cow and sheep, pasteurized
Rennet: Animal
Affinage: ~2 months
Notes: The quality of the truffles used is going to play a huge role in the end product and, unfortunately, Caciotta al Tartufo didn't get the prime cuts.
Thoughts: So you go tossing around a name like "al Tartufo" and people are going to get excited. One would hope that anything "al Tartufo" would be a delight. Burger al tartufo: yes please. Ice cream al tartufo: sign me up. Chocolate milkshake al tartufo: Mercy. Burrito al tartufo: Challenge accepted.
Cheese would also fall into the category of "yes please and thank you", but not all that glitters is worth eating. On the whole this cheese, while certainly good, leaves something to be desired. It is a mixed milk cheese, but it lacks a strong showing from either category. Notably absent is the oily richness that can make sheep cheese so desirable, the same with a strong or worthy creaminess from the cow's milk. The truffle flavor, while present, fails to live up to the grandeur typically associated with everyone's favorite tuber. That isn't to say it's not a tasty bite, but for true truffle titillation one must track the tuber's true.... true........ dangit. You've got to look farther.
Bob Dylan, man....
Bob Dylan.
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