SWEET PROVOLA CHEESE

Sweet Provola is a fresh stringy cheese typical of the rural tradition of southern Italy.

It is famous for its sweet and delicate taste, ivory-white colour, compact and soft texture and flattened ball shape. 

Made from hand-spun raw milk, Sweet Provola is a remarkably versatile cheese that can be used for many different culinary preparations. 

Sweet Provola is excellent to eat:

– As an appetiser accompanied by cold cuts, taralli and served with honey and jams

– As a filling for sandwiches 

– Cut into thick slices and cooked with tomato sauce

– Cut into chunks and fried 

If you don’t feel like cooking, Sweet Provola is also delicious cut into medium-thick slices, paired with fresh bread and eaten raw.   

Thanks to its characteristic sweet flavour, this cheese is a real delight to the palate and will please everyone: young and old ones alike.

We recommend pairing Sweet Provola with sparkling wines, medium-bodied white wines or young or medium-bodied red wines.

Specifically, a particularly suitable grape variety to pair with Sweet Provola is Aglianico: ideal for enhancing the deep aromas and flavours of this cheese. 

Processing

Provola is frequently considered to be a sort of aged mozzarella. In fact, the processing of these two products is the same up to the last stage, ageing, which is clearly absent in mozzarella. 

It is a pasta filata cheese and involves handcrafted manual processing that is essential to absorb as little water as possible in order to obtain a consistent paste. 

Historical background

The name of this cheese comes from the word “prova”. Originally an actual test was carried out, consisting of taking a piece of dough to check the ageing state. 

Other sources state that the name comes from the term “pruvatura” or “pruvula” or the piece of cheese paste that was made to be tasted by the faithful in procession to the monastery of San Lorenzo in Capua, in the province of Caserta.