Caciotta dei Boschi

Ital­ian for "truf­f­li­cious" (Venet­ian dialect) or "mag­i­cal­ly deli­cious" (Tus­can dialect) or "as good as crack" (Cor­si­can), caciot­ta dei boschi is a home­ly look­ing cheese. Its yel­low-beige flesh is spreck­led with brown truf­fle bits, giv­ing it the appear­ance of say, a quail egg. Imag­ine, for a moment, the misty for­est, and the trees that grow there in the black earth, and the roots beneath the trees, crum­bling and damp, mak­ing a home for the hunt­ed Truf­fles, brown fun­gal babies of the per­pet­u­al night. Any­way. Caciot­ta dei boschi has a dank, briney bite that lingers. The sheep's milk base com­bines with the mag­ic truf­fle bits to co-host an earthy, smoky, yum­my par­ty in your mouth. One can almost feel the warm moist pig snout paus­ing to caress its truf­fle quar­ry before roust­ing it from its sub-arbo­r­i­al cub­by. C. d. B. can be eat­en for din­ner, fol­lowed by Girl Scout cook­ies, while watch­ing Rounders star­ring Matt Damon and Edward Nor­ton on cable. No crack­ers necessary.