Photo.Italy.Pizza.Cinque.Formaggi.01.030512.0067.jpg

Italy, Pizza, “Cinque Formaggi”, thin pizza with a golden brown crusty border, outside crunchy, inside soft, topped with Marzano tomato pizza sauce, five types of melted chees; Burrata, Parmigiano Reggiano, Swiss Emmentaler, Gorgonzola, Tyrolean Alpine Cheese & San Marzano Tomato, sweet Italian Basil, extra virgin Tucscany olive oil.

 

Pizza should be baked at temperatures between 360°C - 575°F & 426°C - 800°F, best in a pizza wood-fired brick oven by placing them on the very hot oven stone floor. If the oven dome has the above mentioned baking temperature, the oven floor will typically be cooler than that temperature.

 

📍 Burrata,

Burrata is an Italian cow milk, occasionally buffalo milk cheese made from mozzarella & cream.

The cheese starts out much like mozzarella & many other cheeses, with rennet used to curdle the warm milk. Unlike other cheeses, the fresh mozzarella curds are plunged into hot whey or lightly salted water, kneaded & pulled to develop the familiar stretchy strings, the pasta filata, then shaped.

 

When making the Burrata, the still-hot cheese is formed into a pouch, which is then filled with the scraps of leftover mozzarella, the stracciatella, topped off with fresh cream before closing. The finished burrata is traditionally wrapped in the leaves of asphodel, tied to form a little brioche-like topknot & moistened with a little whey.

The outer casing is solid cheese, while the inside contains stracciatella & cream, giving it an unusual, soft texture.

 

Burrata, unlike mozzarella, gets an extra treatment; the individual balls are knotted like small bags & stored in brine, the cheese is much creamier & slightly sweet, the asphodel leaves should still be green when the cheese is purchased to indicate the cheese's freshness, it is a typical product of eastern region of Puglia

 

📍 Parmigiano Reggiano,

Both "Parmigiano Reggiano" & "Parmesan" are protected designations of origin, PDO, for cheeses produced in these provinces under Italian & European law. Outside the EU, the name "Parmesan" can legally be used for similar cheeses, with only the full Italian name unambiguously referring to PDO Parmigiano Reggiano.

 

The ideal weight of a Parmigiano Reggiano wheel is between 36 and 40 kg with a diameter between 43-45 cm. More than 15 liters of milk are needed for 1 kg of Parmigiano Reggiano.

Due to its manufacturing & aging process, Parmigiano Reggiano is naturally lactose-free & therefore also suitable for intolerant people.

 

📌… & an unusual, but clever bank busyness …Italian cheese makers have been storing their edible treasure for maturing since the 1950s against a loan, like gold bars at banks, 1 whole Parmesano Reggiano has a value of around € 750-850. After ripening, the cheese makers repay the loan & get the wheels back; if they cannot repay the loan, the bank still has the parmesan as a guaranty & can sell it. Several 100.000 Parmesan loaves are stored in special "safe rooms"

 

There are different age groups:

12 months – nuovo .new

24 months – vecchio - old

36 months – stravecchio – very old

48 months - stravecchione - extravagant

Parmigiano Reggiano extra stravecchione - matured for 72 months is extremely rare only very few producers let their cheese mature for six years.

 

Similar cheeses

Grana Padano is an Italian cheese similar to Parmigiano Reggiano, but is produced mainly in Lombardy, where "Padano" refers to the Po Valley; the cows producing the milk may be fed silage as well as grass; the milk may contain slightly less fat, milk from several different days may be used, & must be aged a minimum of 9 months.

 

Reggianito is an Argentine cheese similar to Parmigiano, developed by Italian Argentine cheesemakers, the cheese is made in smaller wheels & aged for less time, but is otherwise broadly similar.

 

📍 Swiss Emmentaler

Emmental, Emmentaler, or Emmenthal is a yellow, medium-hard cheese that originated in the area around Emmental, in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. It is classified as a Swiss-type or Alpine cheese. Until the beginning of the 19th century, the cheese was traditionally made in the Emmental from raw milk & in loaves/wheels with a diameter from 80 to 100 cm & weigh 75 to 120 kg. The most typical feature of Emmentaler AOP are its holes. They are the size of a cherry to a nut and are formed during the ripening process. The shape of the holes can give an indication of the quality of maturity.

 

Emmental was first mentioned in written records in 1293, but first called by its present name in 1542 It has a savoury but mild taste. While "Emmentaler" is registered as a geographical indication in Switzerland, a limited number of countries recognize the term as a geographical indication: similar cheeses of other origins, especially from France as Emmental the Netherlands, Bavaria & Finland, are widely available and sold by that name. In some parts of the world, the names "Emmentaler" and "Swiss cheese" are used interchangeably for Emmental-style cheese.

 

Emmentaler AOP is available in different degrees of ripeness and intended use;

mild, nutty classic, aged for at least 4 months,

distinctively spicy "Réserve", aged for at least 8 months,

fully aromatic "cave-aged", aged for at least 12 months

the unique Emmentaler AOP URTYP®, matured to the point, the original with the original taste matured for approx. 12 months, of which at least 7 months in damp storage.

 

📍 Gorgonzola

A veined blue cheese, originally from Italy, made from unskimmed cow's milk. It can be buttery or firm, crumbly & quite salty, with a "bite" from its blue veining.

Gorgonzola is one of the most famous noblemold cheeses & only produced in the regions of Piedmont & Lombardy; to preserve the originality producers have founded the "Cosortium for the Protection of Gorgonzola".

Gorgonzola is usually made from the milk of two milking, which is either poured together or coagulated separately. For the characteristic veins of mold in Gorgonzola, the cheesemaker inoculates the curd with cultures of “Penicillium Roquefort”. When the Gorgonzola has matured after two to twelve months, it has taken on a mildly sweet to spicy taste. The odour is usually much stronger & can be mitigated by removing the bark.

 

📍 Tyrolean Alpine Cheese g.U.

A cheese produced during the summer months on Tyrolean alpine pastures & is therefore only available to a limited extent. After a minimum maturing period of three months, the taste of alpine summer unfolds in this cheese.

The alpine raw milk used with its unique milk flora is decisive for the special quality in addition to the artisanal production skills in small alpine dairies. The abundance of plants on the Tyrolean alpine pastures is a guarantee for this. Due to the shorter vegetation period & the larger fluctuations between day & night temperatures, there are special growth conditions & a higher concentration of the ingredients in the milk.

The cheese is firm to supple & ivory coloured to light yellow, its taste is mildly aromatic, nutty & becomes strongly spicy with aging.

 

📌…Basil is not just Basil, ….just a few basil species;

Basilico, the name comes from the Latin “Basilius” & the Greek “Basilikón Phutón”, meaning "Royal or Kingly Plant"

There is a wide variety & not only in Italy. The best known is the green, large-leaved variety "Genovese", but there are also red or small-leaved varieties. Lemon or cinnamon basil, for example, have special scents, these varieties or the Indian Tulsi basil can be easily integrated into your own tea creations when dried.

• Genovese Basil

It is probably the best-known & most popular type, which is mainly used for pesto. It is characterized by its intensely spicy taste & its strong green leaves, it can grow up to 50 cm high under good conditions.

 

📌…San Marzano Tomato

The San Marzano Tomato is the classic Italian paste tomato. This variety is an heirloom from San Marzano sul Sarno, a town in the Campania region of southern Italy, near the city of Naples. The sweet, elongated, pointy plum-type tomatoes make delicious cooked tomato sauces. San Marzano tomatoes have an intense tomato aroma & a flavour that perfectly balances a rich sweetness with refreshing acidity. This sweet-tart balance is most pronounced when the tomatoes are cooked. Harvested San Marzano tomatoes at peak ripeness if they are to be enjoyed immediately, either fresh or in a cooked sauce or crushed on a pizza.

 

There is an enormous difference between Roma, Plum Tomatoes & San Marzano Tomatoes.

The San Marzano Tomato is generally thinner, less uniform than Roma tomatoes & carries less seeds in only 2 instead of 3 seed chambers. The tip of San Marzano tomatoes is also much more pointed than Roma fruits. San Marzano tomatoes tend to have an intense, balanced sweet-tart taste, while Roma tomatoes have a more mild flavour that tends towards acidic.

The Roma tomato is a modern variety bred from the San Marzano heirloom tomato. Roma tomatoes are directly descended from the San Marzano. The Roma tomato was introduced to farmers in 1955 by the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service, whereas the San Marzano has been grown on the Italian coast for centuries.

 

👉…Beginning of the 20th century, Italian immigrants begun to open their own bakeries & were selling besides groceries as well pizza. The first documented United States pizzeria was Gennaro Lombardi’s, licensed to sell pizza in 1905 on Spring Street in Manhattan, a part known as “Little Italy” Lombardi’s, is still in operation today, however, no longer at its 1905 site, but has the same oven as it did originally. Pizza as we know & the world likes took the United States by storm before it became popular in its native Italy

 

Especially in the 50th, pizza’s popularity in the United States boomed & no longer seen as an Italian folkloric treat, it was increasingly identified as fast & fun food. Regional, decidedly non-Neapolitan variations emerged, eventually including California-gourmet pizzas topped with anything from barbecued chicken to smoked salmon.

 

Post-war pizza finally reached Italy & beyond their borders also influenced by the starting tourism. Like blue jeans, rock & roll, fast food etc. the Italians & the rest of the world picked up on pizza just because it was "Americano"…easy to eat, fast & tasty.

 

📍 …So actually pizza the way we like it is an "Italo-American" creation.

 

👉…One World one Dream,

🙏...Danke, Xièxie 谢谢, Thanks, Gracias, Merci, Grazie, Obrigado, Arigatô, Dhanyavad, Chokrane to you & over

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