Provolone Valpadana

Rate it

Provolone Valpadana is an Italian semi-hard cheese made from cow's milk by the pasta filata method. It holds protected designation of origin status in the European Union and comes in a mild dolce version and a sharp piccante version, some of them smoked.

Key Facts

Country of Origin	Italy
Specific Origin	Lombardy, Veneto, Emilia-Romagna, Province of Trento
Protection	PDO (1996), DOP (1996)
Milk Type	Cow's milk
Milk Treatment	Pasteurized or thermized
Rind	Smooth, thin, light yellow, golden, or sometimes yellow-brown (smoked version allows for paraffin use)
Texture	Compact, may have slight and rare holes
Flavor	Delicate for sweet cheeses, pronounced with longer maturation for sharp cheeses
Aroma	Rich
Colors	Light yellow, golden, or yellow-brown
Forms	Salami, melon, truncated conical, tangerine, pear topped by a small spherical head (flask), ranging from about 1 pound to more than 220 pounds
Age	Two to three months for Dolce, minimum of three months to more than a year for Piccante
Rennet Type	Calf rennet for Dolce, kid or lamb rennet for Piccante

What is Provolone Valpadana Cheese?

Provolone is an Italian semi-hard cheese made from cow's milk and aged as a pasta filata, or stretched-curd, cheese. The type comes from the Campania region near Vesuvius. The name provolone, meaning large provola, appeared around the end of the 19th century, when producers in southern Italy began making the cheese at its current large size. The most important production region today is northwestern Italy, above all the city of Cremona.

Provolone Valpadana has protected designation of origin status from the European Union, as does provolone del Monaco from the Naples area. No country in the European Union other than Italy may legally produce a cheese called provolone.

Taste ranges widely. Piccante is aged for a minimum of four months and tastes very sharp, its piquant edge coming from lipase derived from goat. Dolce uses calf lipase instead and stays very mild. Some versions are smoked.

In Campania the cheese is still made in pear, sausage, or cone shapes 10 to 15 cm (4 to 6 in) long. The smaller variant is sold as provola, either plain or smoked (affumicata).

Provolone-type cheeses are made outside Italy as well. In Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, and Uruguay, small discs of local pulled-curd provolone 10 to 15 cm (4 to 6 in) across and 1 to 2 cm (1/2 to 3/4 in) high are grilled until partly melted and eaten as a starter, often seasoned with herbs, a dish called provoleta. In the United States, provolone accounted for 2.5% of cheese production in 2023, or 170,000 tonnes (370 million pounds).