Definitely with the festive cheeseboard vision starting to take shape in our minds, we have been trying out some fabulous new cheeses over in Wellington this month. Here is our round up of five of our current favourites.
1. ORO ROSSO – Red Gold
This blue cheese is a fairly new addition to the shop but we think it will be sticking around!
The name Oro Rosso comes from the products used to carry out the maturing of the cheese. These pure cow's milk cheeses are placed in barrels and covered with a ruby sweet wine native to the Veneto region and left for about 30 days.
Once removed they are covered with blueberries, blackberries, currants (also called 'red gold') to create the colour and rarity before being left to mature. In this way the fruits in contact with the wet rind release all their fragrance and blend with the taste and smell of the sweet wine.
The cheese has an intense flavour with a hint of the wine, pleasantly sour and with colourful streaks of bright red tending towards purple. It is delightfully creamy and melts in your mouth.
2.MOLITERNO WITH TRUFFLES
This Canestrato hard cheese (pictured middle right) won a Gold Medal at World Cheese Awards 2015-16. Produced with raw ewe’s milk, the taste is full, savoury and slightly spicy when matured, with notes of ripe fruits and earth.
Unlike most truffle cheeses, the black truffle paste is infused after Moliterno has been aged so that the cheese develops its own character before the truffles are injected. Though the truffles are only visible in the "veins," the truffle flavour permeates throughout the entirety of this amazing cheese. Serve at room temperature so that once cut, the dark paste oozes out of the crevices of the cheese.
A perfect table cheese and an ideal companion with dried figs, apricots and raisins. Serve with an earthy full-bodied red. For this we recommend a Sicilian Nero d'Avola. Superb.
3.Spoonable SWEET GORGONZOLA
This has become an Olive and Rosy classic.
Made from pasteurized cow's milk, the taste is very sweet with strong hints of milk and ripe fruits. The presence of the blue is subtle but gives to the cheese a pleasant and unmistakable flavour. As a tasting suggestion, serve this wonderfully soft and gooey cheese on a slice of warm bread or with raspberries for an unusual dessert. Even if you don't think you like gorgonzola or blue cheese, we think you will be pleasantly surprised by this one!
4. AGED PIAVE
This is a pasteurised whole cow’s milk cheese. It is made using milk from the areas surrounding the river Piave which flows from the Alps out to the Adriatic Sea near Venice. It also draws on local traditional methods to cook the curd and age the cheese until it is hard. This variety has been aged for more than 12 months which will create a more granular texture sometimes with delicious crunchy protein crystals. The taste is sweet with notes of cooked butter and toasted fruit. I remember reading somewhere that it reminded the taster of pineapple! Due to its sweetness however, it will be appreciated even by those who do not like strong flavours. It goes well on a antipasti board, shaved over pasta the later with honey or good balsamic vinegar.
5. ALPAGE’S ASIAGO
Another pasteurised whole cow’s milk produced only during summer and matured in Malga Verde, at 1100 meters high. The taste is sweet, creamy and buttery; the aftertaste more nutty. Great as a table cheese; it melts well on baked vegetables and over pizza; in small cubes it is very nice in salads. We also love it with Mostarda.
Why not come and try them for yourself at one of our tasting nights?
Alternatively, please send us a message to enquire about ordering online.
Look out for five more of our newest favourites coming very soon!
