Le Guide de l'Espresso: Squacquerone di Romagna Dop
Type, production notes:
Fat cheese; cow's milk, whole, pasteurized or thermised; calf rennet;
raw, creamy pasta; seasoning: very fresh.
Taste-olfactory synthesis:
It has a very pleasant olfactory-gustatory profile: sweet, with a sour touch, salty
present even if not evidently. The aroma is delicate, typically milky
fresh-acid, with a herbaceous note.
It is typical of the provinces of Ravenna, Forli-Cesea, Rimini, Bologna and part of the territory
of Ferrara: it is no coincidence that it is traditionally used in the filling of the famous Piadina
Romagna. Already Petronius in the Satyricon cited the "caseum dallemm" ancestor of Squacquerone
and other soft cheeses. Its name comes from the Romagna dialect "squaquaron" which
indicates the high capacity to retain water and the impossibility, once served, of
maintain a precise shape, "melting" like a soft cream. Whole cow's milk,
thermised or pasteurized, it is added with milk starter or native lactic ferments
and then with liquid calf rennet. The curd is cut into walnuts and stirred until
achievement of the necessary pH. After extraction, the pasta finds its place in fuscelle, where
it rests until it has purged properly. Salting and pickling or
directly dry in the boiler. The production techniques are similar to those of the past
and provide longer processing times in winter and shorter in summer, so as to
avoid the problem of cheese chalking, i.e. an excessive compactness of the
pasta. Without crust, the surface is moist, with a pearly white colour. The pasta is soft,
gelatinous, moist, sticky and creamy. It comes in different consistencies, sometimes compact,
gelatinous, or spreadable, depending on the maturation (24-96 hours at 3-6°).
Beer - Witbier Isaac (Biere Blanche) 8°/10°C
Wine - Pignoletto IGT Emilia - Falestar Azienda Vinicola Maria Bortolotti
Honey - Alfalfa - Chestnut
Sauce (chutney) - Tomatoes, Carrots and Black Pepper