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# 77 MARCH 21 , 2016
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ITALIAN FLAVORS:
Ragusano Cheese
By Consorzio per la tutela del formaggio Ragusano with MiPAAF
Ragusano DOP is a spun
curd cheese made with
raw cow’s milk using traditional equipment. It is
produced
throughout
the province of Ragusa
and in some towns in the
province of Syracuse during the fodder season,
i.e. November to May. Historically referred to as
“caciocavallo ragusano”
(caciocavallo from Ragusa), it is one of the island’s
oldest dairy products and
its name derives from the
fourteenth century.
custom of drying the wheels of cheese “a cavaddu”,
As early as 1515, Carmelo
that is ‘on horseback’ or
Trasselli wrote in “Ferdistraddling, an axis.
nando il Cattolico e Carlo
V” (Ferdinand the CathoIt is a cheese with a swelic and Charles V) descriet and distinct flavour that
bing a “duty exemption”
has been the basis of a
for caciocavallo ragusano,
flourishing trade beyond
meaning it was already
the borders of the Kinthe object of considerable
gdom of Sicily since the
business.
42 | WE THE ITALIANS
www.wetheitalians.com
In “Note sui Ragusei in Sicilia” (Notes of the People
of Ragusa in Sicily), Trasselli also mentioned documents by “Notary Gaetano, F. 106” that make
further reference to the
trade of caciocavallo by
ship.
In a work by Abbot Paolo