What Are Italian Cheeses? Italian cheeses are traditional to Italy or bear a proof of production in the country. Popular Italian cheeses include mozarella, Parmesan, Grana Padano, and ricotta. Italy produces cow’s milk cheese, sheep’s milk cheese, and buffalo milk cheese. Also, the textures encompass soft cheese, semisoft cheese, hard cheese, and semihard cheese.
The different types of cheese have various applications in Italian cuisine, which also frequently incorporates pasta and tomato-based sauces. Experts contend Italy produces more varieties of cheese—more than 2,500—than any other country in the world. In terms of annual volume, only France and Germany are ahead of Italy. Meet One of Your New Instructors Sign Up Italian Cheeses and Protected Designation of Origin Approximately 300 Italian cheeses receive legal protection of origin—called a protected designation of origin or PDO (or Denominazione di Origine Protetta or DOP). For example, a Gorgonzola cheese must come from the Gorgonzola region or another region with permission to make and sell the cheese under the Gorgonzola name. Italy’s Lombardy region alone claims almost 80 protected cheeses. Other Italian areas that produce cheeses with PDOs include Trentino-Alto Adige and Valle d’Aosta (Aosta Valley) in the Alpine region; the Veneto lagoons; Bologna in Emilia-Romagna; Tuscany; Umbria; and the Basilicata, Puglia, Campania, Calabria, Sicily, and Sardinia in Southern Italy. 10 of the Most Common Italian Cheeses Italy produces thousands of traditional cheeses, with a significant number available as commercial products domestically and internationally.
Many of these cheeses even receive a protected designation of origin (PDO or DOP), which proves they come from a specific region in Italy. Here are ten of the most common Italian cheeses you will encounter while browsing the cheese section of your local grocery store or market: 1. Asiago: A hard or semihard cow’s milk cheese, Asiago is a PDO cheese that takes on different textures depending on how long it ages. Asiago stravecchio is a popular type that ages for at least fifteen months. Asiago is a common replacement for Parmesan, and you can use it similar to how you would use Parmesan cheese in a risotto; however, Asiago is a full-bodied and flavorful cheese in its own right.
