As I've often said, cheese is my very favorite food in the world. I regularly try new variants, but so far I've always at least liked these. To paraphrase another expression, even "bad" cheese is pretty good. This week's topic is Piave cheese, from Italy. I located it in the imported cheese section at my local Shop Rite grocery.
Piave is rather like tequila, or champagne, or bourbon, in that people claim it can only come from one place in the world, and has to be traditionally made, using the proper ingredients, etc. In this case Piave must be made in the Italian province of Belluno, in the Dolomite area, and the Veneti region. They're quite serious about this, too, as this cheese has a PDO, or Protected Designation of Origin. I guess, essentially, if you try to sell "Piave" cheese made in like Arkansas, or something, you'll presumably be hearing soon from grim Italian lawyers. The cheese gets its name from a river in this location.
The way Piave is made is a little unusual. After coagulation through the addition of rennet, the curd is then cooked. Egg white is listed as an ingredient, too. Then this is placed in a mold, salted in a brine bath, and then aged in a temperature and humidity-controlled warehouse. (I can't reveal the exact temperature and humidity, as they are not listed--evidently they're trade secrets.) As with some other cheeses (such as Manchego, see my August 29, 2015 post), Piave has several sub-variants based on how long it was aged. As seen below:
1) Piave fresco: Aged 20-60 days, comes in a package with a blue label.
2) Piave mezzano: Aged 61-180 days, also with a blue label.
3) Piave vecchio: Aged 6-12 months, blue label.
4) Piave vecchio selezione oro: Aged 12-18 months, red label.
5) Piave vecchio riserva: Aged over 18 months, black label.
(I don't know why the cheese mongers didn't come up with different colored labels for the first three kinds, but oh well.)
Piave is a hard cheese, similar in texture to what many folks call "Parmesan," or Parmigiano Reggiano, to be more technical. And it's always made using cow's milk.
The company that makes the cheese in Italy, Cucina Classica, doesn't have much of a history on its website. Basically, it just lists the products they sell, which are various types of Italian cheeses, like Pedano, Romano, Gorgonzola, Parmigiano Reggiano, and various sub-types. The American importing company, Atalanta Corp., is amazingly diverse. They handle meat, seafood, pasta, crackers, fruit, jams, vegetables, sauces, spices, cookies, desserts--just about every major kind of edible but beverages, from what I saw.
Here's what I thought.
Piave cheese, vecchio selezione oro style, red label: This was light yellow in color, and was a hard cheese. I had it plain, cut into slices. It was very nice. It was advertised as having a sweet flavor, but I didn't find this to be so. I thought it had a savory, almost tart taste to it. I quite enjoyed it, and would definitely have this one again.
Later I discovered I'd broken the official rules about eating Piave. You're supposed to leave it out of the fridge for 30 minutes before having it, to give it time to "breathe." It's also suggested that consumers use a knife with a drop point blade to cut it, so you don't ruin the granule structure. Allegedly breaking it upon its natural fracture points improves the flavor. Well, call me cynical, but I seriously doubt this would have made a difference. But, to be fair, I didn't try it both ways, so I'm not 100% on this. Not being a cooking hobbyist, or a knife enthusiast, I wasn't even aware of the large number of types of knife blades, and what the effects are. Finally, not too surprisingly given that it's an import, my Piave was a bit pricey, costing about $6.00 for a 142 gram (5 ounce) piece.
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