I've been intrigued by this cheese for a while now. It's a barrel-aged cow's milk cheese from Italy that has hay pressed into the rind. At the store, where the pre-cut pieces sit on top of the giant wheel, you can see the long strands of hay in the rind. Needless to say, vento d'estate has more than a whiff of the barnyard. It's tasty, with a little tang and a little sweet summery goodness. It makes you feel like you are some pampered Italian cow, grazing in some magnificent field right below a cathedral.
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4 replies on “Vento d'Estate”
Yeah, I got hay pressed into my rind one summer night when I was makin' out with the stable boy at my parents' country house in Virginia. Oh Serge, where are you now? He really knew his way around the tack room.
I saw a cheese like this — or maybe this cheese — and I thought that the hay thing was genius. It reminded me of when beekeepers put a little comb in the bottom of honey jars. But, on one hand, you're like, "Cool." But then when you realize that there's not much practical use for that comb, other than chewing, you feel sort of cheated. So, does the hay have any practical use? Or is it just there to make you feel like you're getting real cheese that has been aged in someone's barn loft?
Lots of things get pressed into cheese rinds—I think it adds to the flavor. For instance, the green stripe in Humboldt Fog comes from vegetable ash, and a very tasty cheese called Pepe Senese has pepper crusted into the rind. The Italians are drawn to good design, and while some of their national products may be considered to have slightly more flash than function, I don't think that farmers are given to wasting hay if there was no flavor benefit.
I checked it out again at the store last night, and the rind also has herbs in it. hay and herbs.