Dairy
Caciocavallo
Caciocavallo is a southern Italian pasta filata cheese of cow’s milk (sometimes mixed with sheep or goat in local variants), stretched, shaped into a teardrop or flask with a small head, and tied in pairs to hang “a cavallo” over a beam while ageing. The paste moves from semi-soft and mild when young to firm, sharp, and grateable with months of maturation; smoked versions are also traditional. It is eaten table-style, grilled, melted, or grated when aged. Related to provolone and scamorza within the stretched-curd family, it remains emblematic of Apulia, Basilicata, Campania, Sicily, and the wider south, with Caciocavallo Silano among the best-known protected forms.
Also known as: Caciocavallo Silano, Caciocavallo palermitano
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History
Greek and Italic southern Italy already produced stretched and hung cheeses ancestral to later caciocavallo forms.
Early medieval southern dairies kept pear-shaped pasta filata cheeses hung in pairs for air drying and trade.
The name caciocavallo and the double-hung shape were firmly established across the Mezzogiorno.
Large-scale pastoral and farmhouse production supplied cities of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies with aged caciocavallo.
Caciocavallo Silano received DOP recognition for defined southern production zones and methods.
EU PDO status reinforced Caciocavallo Silano while regional caciocavallo styles continued across southern Italy.