Classifying Cheese

There are various ways to classify the Italian cheeses available to the American consumer. One is by type of milk: vaccino (cow’s milk); pecorino (sheep’s milk), caprino (goat’s milk), bufalino (buffalo milk), and latte misto (mixed milk). Northern Italy is particularly famous for several cow’s-milk cheeses, specifically the nutty, granular Parmigiano-Reggiano and Grana Padano. Fontina, Gorgonzola, Taleggio, and Asiago are other well-known cow’s-milk cheeses produced in northern and central Italy. Once more common in the mountainous regions of central and southern Italy, sheep’s-milk cheeses (collectively called pecorino, from pecora, the Italian word for sheep) as well as goat’s-milk cheeses are now produced in most regions. Buffalo-milk cheeses are traditionally connected to the area around Rome and southern Italy, particularly Campania.