FROM TRADITION CHEESE SOUTHERN ITALY AND THE DESIRE TO INNOVATE IS BORN “GROTTONE” A CHEESE SPUN SEMI-HARD OCCHIATO UNMISTAKABLE SMELL OR PEELED HAZELNUTS ROASTED AND TASTE SWEET AND WRAPPING TYPICAL OF AGING IN TUFACEOUS CAVES.
Commodities Use
cow’s milk, rennet, lactic acid bacteria and propionic acid, salt.
Production place
San Salvatore Telesino, a charming small town of about 4000 inhabitants located in the green and fertile “Telesina Valley” at the foot of the “Massif of Matese” in the province of Benevento
Typicalness of the Product
It ‘a stretched curd cheese made with milk from cows fed without the use of silage and from selected farms within the “Regional Park of Matese”. During the work processing, a peculiar characteristic of this product is the addition of propionic bacteria which, in the maturing phase, the cheese gives over to a particular structure due to the development of carbon dioxide-which creates numerous forms within the “eyes” more or less pronounced ranging from a few mm. up to 10/15 mm. in diameter – a characteristic aroma, a soft, warm and a sweet taste of pasta texture. It is aged for a minimum period of two months in rooms that go back to the microclimate and the microflora of the typical tufaceous caves where, at first, was cured.
Currently, the company is striving to further reduce the content – the lactose in the product, so as to make this cheese suitable to be consumed by individuals who can not tolerate this complexed sugar.
In the kitchen
It can be eaten as a table cheese, or abused in many other preparations.
Combinations
It goes well with white wines of Campania as Falanghina, late Falanghina, Fiano, Coda di Volpe and white Pallagrello. A happy marriage is obtained by combining this cheese with the meat of black pig from Caserta in the “grottone-fondue with the same meat as before, but this time grilled”. Delicious and harmonious is, finally, the combination of the black cherry and plum jam.
