Sunday, July 31, 2011

The Art of Cheese

Yesterday we went on a Cheese Making Tour in Avellino.  About an hour east of Naples, we joined Aldo, my tour guide of choice, to visit a "caseificio."  The literal translation is closer to "dairy house" than "cheese factory" because Italians think of factories as being too industrial to make something like cheese.  Interesting note!  On the way, we saw the beautiful countryside and learned why there were so many fires on the mountain that day.  It turns out that it is hazelnut harvesting season this weekend and that many Italians who immigrated to other countries normally come home to help with the harvest of hazelnuts. 

To harvest hazelnuts, farmers burn the vegetation and lower branches of the bush.  It is important to note that Naples has fires daily, if not hourly.  The trash lying on the sides of the roads in plastic bags builds up with methane and ignites all the time.  That, and during riots, people will burn trash in downtown piazzas.  Needless to say, fire is something that we've grown oddly accoustomed to.  So to say that  there were a lot of fires in Naples yesterday will hopefully help the reader to understand just how many there were.  The countryside looked like fog had rolled in, the fog you see in Napa Valley, that sinks in and engulfs the hills. 
When we finally arrived at the caseificio, we piled out of the bus to find a two story house with a large shed next door.  This is where the family lives, makes cheese and sells it with 3 ratty looking dogs and an adorable 3 year old running around in Daisy Duck apparel.  When we arrived, 3 bottles of water, 2 bottles of wine and 10 plates of cheese sat on the table.  Machinery noise made it difficult to hear, so Aldo beckoned us to the eat while we waited.  He shouted "they can't stop in the middle of the process.  We must wait!!"  And so we did!  There is nothing like eating cheese and drinking wine at 9 AM!  The vat with the cheese in it was enormous!  Two men in jeans and t-shirts with white galoshes were scooping the ricotta from the vat into little plastic baskets on a steel incline with a rubber bucket at the bottom.  This allows the excess water to drain.  But they can't put a full scoop in every basket at once because that causes air pockets.  They have to plop about 1/4 of a cup into each basket at a time and let it settle.  Talk about slow food!



I bought some cheese, I'm not sure what it's called, with arugala inside.  Mmm!!!  And biscotti that you are to dip into limoncello.  (Which we did later that night and determined that limoncello is still not Tom's favorite drink, even with biscotti)  My 0.44 kg (nearly a pound) of cheese and bag of biscotti was 2,70 Euro!  I couldn't understand at first why he didn't want my 20! 

Buzzed from an hour of drinking wine and eating cheese, Aldo called "his children" back onto the bus to drive to the lunch location.  Da Rosa Ristorante was another 20 minutes east in the middle of nowhere!  Upon arriving, the rather hefty driver of the Nissan that had lead us through some windy back roads exited his car and Aldo remarked "The food here must be good!" 

Lunch was included in our tour price and I'm fairly certain that we got our money's worth.  Aldo told us that we would get a sampling for antipasti and 6 "tasting portions" of pasta.  Tasting portions in Italian are like the never-ending pasta bowls at the Olive Garden, except the food's actually good.  My favorite was the linguini in truffle cream sauce.  Oh my goodness!  It was SO delicious!  Then there was truffle ravioli.  Oh, stop!  Then there was a meat course.  Wait, what?  Five different types of meat followed by eggplant, zucchini and salad.  Fruit course then dessert.  And, because Aldo loves getting more stuff, the waiter brought us pitchers of peaches and soaked them in wine.  It was like really simple sangria.

Our section of the table had 6 bottles of wine between 6 of us.  We laughed our way through the 4 hour lunch and on the way out, took loads of pictures in the little garden on the side of the ristorante.

2 comments:

  1. Love the post. Pics aren't working. I love you lady!!

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  2. I want to have your Sunday. Absolutely fantastic, and I am so jealous of your adventures!

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