Provolone

Appears in
Oxford Companion to Food

By Alan Davidson

Published 2014

  • About

provolone an important cheese of southern Italy, closely related to caciocavallo. It is made from whole cow’s milk and comes in a variety of shapes: cone or pear shaped, round like a melon, and cylindrical. The weight is typically from 1 to 6 kg (2 to 13 lb), but enormous cheeses to which the name provolone gigante applies are sometimes made.

There are three sorts of provolone: mild, sharp, and smoked. The smoked sort may be mild or sharp. All have a higher fat content (45 per cent) than that of caciocavallo. Another difference between the two is that at an age when caciocavallo has already graduated from a table to a grating cheese provolone will still be suitable for table use.