Paglierina

Characteristics

Production zone

Provinces of Cuneo and Torino.

Characteristics

Cheese of cow’s milk, if necessary with ovine and oat’s milk, with soft and raw dough.

Shape and Dimensions

Round, almost flat, with 10-15 cm diameter. Maximum high: 2 cm. It weighs 150 to 300 g, depending on its dimensions. The rind is wrinkled, yellow-white with its characteristic square signs.

Looks of the dough

The dough is compact and yellow in the seasoned moulds; soft and white in the fresh ones.

History

Though its production has started centuries ago, the name Paglierina was created about a century ago by the cheese-firm Quaglia in San Francesco al Campo (Torino).

It comes from the fact that once the cheese was put, for the seasoning, on straw (paglia) grates, that left on its the typical square signs.

Production technique

It is made of cow’s milk (sometimes with a little ovine or oat’s milk), curdled at 38-40°C with rennet.

The mixture is broken in pieces as big as a nut, gathered and left six or seven hours at 25°C.

After having been salted (dry or pickled), the Paglierine season in fresh and humid places for 10-20 days, until the typical white mold appears.

Taste and smell

The fresh moulds have milk flavours, a soft dough and a fresh and delicate taste. The more it is dseasoned, the more the flavours become intense, smelling of hazelnuts and sometimes mushrooms.

How to eat it

Alone.

Recommended wines

Langhe Favorita and Roero Arneis.