Provolone del Monaco

History and origin

Provolone del Monaco grew out of the cheesemaking tradition of the Lattari Mountains and the Sorrento peninsula. Its name has a curious origin, tied to the way the cheese reached the city: the cheesemakers set out from the peninsula by sea and landed at dawn in the port of Naples, wrapped against the cold and damp in a sackcloth cloak that looked like a monk's habit. The people of the port and the market began to call them «monks», and their cheese became the monk's provolone.

According to the Campania Region, livestock farming in the Lattari Mountains has very ancient roots, and over the centuries dairy products became part of the area's culture and economy. The Bourbons encouraged the improvement of the herds through successful crossbreeding, which gave rise to the Agerolese, the local cow first described in detail in 1909.

Today Provolone del Monaco is a PDO entered in the European register, and its recognition helps to save the Agerolese breed itself.

Sources: Qualigeo — Provolone del Monaco DOP · Regione Campania, Assessorato Agricoltura — Provolone del Monaco DOP · eAmbrosia — Provolone del Monaco (PDO-IT-0466)

Area and method of production

The production area covers 13 towns in the province of Naples, in the Sorrento peninsula and Lattari Mountains. Only raw cow's milk is used, at least 20% from Agerolese cows and the rest from other breeds such as Friesian, Brown, Red Pied, Jersey and Podolica, all raised in the area. The Agerolese, now found almost only in Agerola and Gragnano, gives little milk but of very high quality, well suited to stretching.

The milk curdles for 40-60 minutes with kid rennet paste or natural calf rennet. The curd is broken into grains the size of a maize kernel, rests, is heated to 48-52 degrees and rests again; then it drains in hemp cloths or perforated baskets. When it is elastic enough it is cut into strips and stretched by hand with water at 85-95 degrees, work so demanding that it sometimes takes two people.

The cheeses firm up in cold water, are brined and tied in pairs. They dry for 10-20 days and then age for at least six months at 8-15 degrees, with washing, mould cleaning and sometimes a coating of Penisola Sorrentina PDO extra virgin olive oil.

Sources: Qualigeo — Provolone del Monaco DOP · Regione Campania, Assessorato Agricoltura — Provolone del Monaco DOP

How to recognise it

It is shaped like an elongated melon, or a pear without a head, divided into at least six faces by the raffia ties that hold the cheeses in pairs. It weighs between 2.5 and 8 kilos. The rind is thin and almost smooth, yellowish with slightly darker tones.

The paste is cream-coloured, elastic, compact and even, without flaking, with small holes up to 5 millimetres, known as «partridge eyes». The flavour is sweet and buttery, with a pleasant spicy note that grows stronger with age.

After 7-8 months the rind turns more yellow and thicker, the paste firmer and the taste spicier. According to the Region, by around nine months the cheese reaches its best, and month by month the rind darkens to the colour of ripe hazelnuts.

Sources: Qualigeo — Provolone del Monaco DOP · Regione Campania, Assessorato Agricoltura — Provolone del Monaco DOP

In the kitchen

Provolone del Monaco is an ingredient in many Neapolitan recipes, but its flavour also makes it popular as a table cheese, among the starters and at the end of a meal.

The best-known example is pasta e patate, pasta with potatoes, a humble dish: a little provolone, grated or in thin shavings, is enough to fill it with aroma and turn it into a speciality. The cheese also enriches many other typical Campanian pasta dishes.

With the more mature cheese the recommended pairing is a red wine from the same land, Penisola Sorrentina PDO. It should be kept in the fridge, at no more than 8 degrees.

Sources: Qualigeo — Provolone del Monaco DOP · Regione Campania, Assessorato Agricoltura — Provolone del Monaco DOP

Where to taste it

The home of Provolone del Monaco is the Lattari Mountains and the Sorrento peninsula. Agerola, in the mountains behind the Amalfi Coast, and Gragnano are the towns where the Agerolese cow still lives, and the pastures rich in aromatic herbs available almost all year are part of the cheese's character.

The cheese is on sale all year, whole or in portions. Visitors to the Amalfi Coast or Sorrento can head up towards Agerola and the Lattari to discover the mountain, pastoral side of this area, which also produces fiordilatte and other stretched-curd cheeses with milk from local cows.

Sources: Regione Campania, Assessorato Agricoltura — Provolone del Monaco DOP · Qualigeo — Provolone del Monaco DOP

Protection

• Protected designation of origin (PDO) — PDO-IT-0466 (eAmbrosia — Provolone del Monaco (PDO-IT-0466))

When

• The sources consulted give no months.

Where

Campania

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