Sottocenere Cheese with Truffles

Tags

cheese, Italy, review, sottocenere, truffles

Look at this gorgeous cheese. Love those pieces and bits of truffles. MMMM!

Originally made in Italy, it has bits of black truffles nestled in the off-white cow’s milk cheese. The outside rind of the cheese is actually composed of ash, herbs, and spices. Wonder who discovered that aging technique?

The cheese is a semi-soft with a mild scent of truffles and a stronger flavor. I sampled the cheese with the rind, without the rind, and the rind separately. I have to say I love the cheese. It is mild but flavorful. The truffles are nice, especially since there are some obvious pieces included.

Not so much on the rind, though. It is grainy, gritty, and there was little flavor. I will probably cut it off in the future.

I can’t imagine pairing this cheese with much of anything. The whole point of the cheese is the truffles. Why smother that flavor? I suggest you try this one. It is special.

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Fontina Val d’Aosta

Tags

cheese, fontina, food, Italy, review

When I unwrapped this cheese, I noticed right away that it had a much stronger smell than many cheeses. Earthy and almost mushroom-like, the strong scent is forbearance of the equally hearty taste. This semi-firm, cows milk cheese originates in Italy.

Two types of rinds are found on fontina- Italian fontina has a natural rind from aging; Dutch fontina has a red wax rind. I tried this cheese with the rind, without the rind, and the rind alone. The rind is very thin and doesn’t have much stand alone flavor. I don’t see the point of removing the rind, though if you want to I don’t know why you shouldn’t.

Artisanal Cheese has a wonderful little tool to help you design a cheese plate found here. This cheese is full bodied enough to serve with a nice red wine. I really like this cheese and plan on purchasing it again in the future.