Caprino

Goats’ Cheese

Appears in

Carluccio's Complete Italian Food

By Antonio Carluccio and Priscilla Carluccio

Published 1997

About

Italian goats’ cheeses are either made from raw goats’ milk or with semi-cooked milk. The latter is left to mature for 2 or 3 months and is then used as it is. However, in Liguria and more especially in Piedmont, it is traditional to immerse the cheese in vinegar and oil, sometimes with added chilli. In Alba, there is a new development where the little round cheeses 4 cm (1½ inch) across and 2 cm (¾ inch) high are preserved in oil with truffle.

There is also an aged version of caprino which has a slightly yellower skin but the same white centre and delicate flavour. In the south and in Sardinia, where the tough dry grass is ideal for goats and produces a strong and flavoursome milk, a version called meridionale is made. It comes in little drums with a diameter of 8-18 cm (3½-7¼ inches), 4-13 cm (1¾-5¼ inches) high and weighing 1.3 to 5 kg (2¾-11 lb), and is only aged for 20-30 days. This very white cheese with little holes has a hard rind. Formaggini or robiolini is another caprino from the area around Como in Lombardy, but the most famous comes from Valsassina and Montevecchio in the Lambro Valley in Lombardy.