Cheesy stuff: La Tramontina

May 28, 2012

Cheesy stuff: La Tramontina

Cheese is a staple in every Italian kitchen. The best way to taste the flavors of cheese is at room temperature. Taking the cheese out of the refidgerator 2-3 hours before dinner will warm the temperature of the cheese to the right degree and the tastes will be much more vivid. Try it, mozzarella boconcini are really so much creamier, richer and tastier when left out to warm a bit.
In Italy, you can find any variety of cheese but the type of cheese depends on the region. For example, in Desenzano del Garda (up north) they sell a delicious smooth tart cheese called Rosa Camuna, or Camuna Rose.

The shape of it is like the four sided rose carving on a rock in Val Camonica, north east of Milan, that dates back to the Bronze Age.

There she is! The Rosa Comuna rose in the middle. I think it looks more like a windmill and less like cheese.

The Rosa Camuna is also the symbol for the Lombarida Region. Very pretty.

It is in that region that they produce this tantelizing cheese that is heavily addictive. One thin little slice isn't enough to satisfy a hungry palate and before you know it another slice is being wedged out. Oh, Rosa Camuna is also oh so very good with a small drop of honey or jam on top. The best Rosa Camuna can be found in the weekly street markets around the mid-north.

Every type of cheese has a history, character and almost an individual personality. Cheese is sensitive yet nourishing like a good friend. I have seen cheeses slapped around in shops, pulled in and out of the refridgerators, and eaten at fridgid temperatures. My simpathy for them went out whole heartedly. One day, I passed cheese heaven. A small shop in Pescara, called La Tramontina is the cushy place for Napolitan cheese.

The shop is built in a remodeled 18th century sandbrick house, one of the few structures left remaining after Pescara was bombed durin WW2. In the safety of this beautiful old house is the immaculately clean and bright cheese store. La Tramontina boasts fresh buffalo mozzarella, made from the milk of water buffalo. These diasaur size beasts roam the mud fields in the region of Campania, you can smell them a mile away, but the mud keeps them cool and happy.

The best cheese comes from this gal.

Happy cows or buffalo = happy cheese. La Tramontina also has the best scamorza, or smoked mozzerella that I have ever tasted. This mozzarella is hung with a straw cord and slowly smoked with a oak wood base fire. The first time I tasted it my memory was transported to the deep woods of Washington State where people regularly use their fireplace, the air is crisp with the scent of pine and occasionally musky with the scent of the smoke. I woke up from my Wa. state day dream and saw my mother in law smiling with satisfaction seeing that the cheese she bought made me happy. "Ti piace?" she asked, absolutely it piaced me! So, La Tramontina became my go-to place with my mom-in-law where we would drop some serious cash on bags of cheese. After all, cheese needs to fit the right environment. Mozzarella goes with baked pastas, pizza and caprese salads. Scamorza, smoked mozzarella is heavenly eaten just by itself and even the second layer of perfection if baked inside of mashed potatoes with ham, covered with oil and cut like a pie. Sweet Mother of Pearl, is that good...