{{Short description|Italian cheese}} {{Italics title}} {{Infobox cheese | name = ''Caciocavallo'' | image = Cacio cavallo with slices.jpg | image_size = | caption = Whole cheese and cut into pieces | othernames = | country = Italy | region = | town = | source = Sheep, cow | pasteurised = | texture = | fat = | protein = | dimensions = | weight = | aging = | certification = PDO ({{lang|it|caciocavallo silano}}) }}
'''{{lang|it|Caciocavallo}}''' ({{IPA|it|ˌkatʃokaˈvallo|lang}}) is a type of {{lang|it|pasta filata}} ('stretched-curd') cheese made out of sheep's or cow's milk. It is produced throughout southern Italy, particularly in the Apennine Mountains and in the Gargano peninsula. Shaped like a teardrop, it is similar in taste to the aged southern Italian provolone cheese, with a hard edible rind.
==Etymology== The Italian name of the cheese {{lang|it|caciocavallo}} literally means 'horse cheese' and it is generally thought that the name derives from the fact that two cheese forms are always bound together with rope and then left to mature by placing them ''a cavallo'', i.e. straddling, upon a horizontal stick or branch.<ref>{{cite web|title=Caciocavallo Silano DOP|url=http://www.pianodellaspina.it/ita/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=81&Itemid=86|access-date=22 September 2011|language=it|archive-date=20 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210120222059/http://www.pianodellaspina.it/ita/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=81&Itemid=86|url-status=dead}}</ref>
==History== A sort of {{lang|it|caciocavallo}} is believed to have first been mentioned by Hippocrates (c. 460–c. 370 BC), who emphasised the "Greeks' cleverness in making cheese".<ref>{{cite web|title=Caciocavallo Silano DOP - Background|url=http://www.caciocavallosilano.net/home_uk.htm|access-date=22 September 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110911134152/http://www.caciocavallosilano.net/home_uk.htm|archive-date=11 September 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref> Columella in his classic treatise on agriculture, ''De re rustica'' (35–45 CE), described precisely the methods used in its preparation, making it one of the oldest known cheeses in the world.<ref>{{cite book |last=Carr|first=Sandy|title=The Simon and Schuster pocket guide to Cheese|publisher=Simon and Schuster|location=New York|year=1981|page=84|language=en|oclc=7459647|isbn=0-671-42475-0}}</ref> Types of cheese with names similar to {{lang|it|caciocavallo}} are common throughout the Balkans and southern Italy. In Sicily, the Ragusano DOP, known locally as {{lang|it|caciocavallo ragusano}} had to drop the denomination "{{lang|it|caciocavallo}}" in order to get DOP status.<ref>{{cite web|title=I formaggi storici di nicchia in Sicilia: aspet on ti produttivi e di mercato|url=http://www.coreras.it/Upload/allegatipubblicazioni/I_formaggi_storici_di_nicchia_in_Sicilia.pdf|access-date=22 September 2011|page=62|language=it|date=December 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120402185457/http://www.coreras.it/Upload/allegatipubblicazioni/I_formaggi_storici_di_nicchia_in_Sicilia.pdf|archive-date=2 April 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref>
==Types== Many different types of {{lang|it|caciocavallo}} exist in Italy, and several are recognised as {{lang|it|prodotti agroalimentari tradizionali}} (PAT), such as {{lang|it|caciocavallo podolico}} (produced using only milk from the Podolica cattle breed), {{lang|it|caciocavallo di Castelfranco}} (from Miscano Valley in the Apennines) or {{lang|it|caciocavallo di Godrano}} (often called {{lang|it|caciocavallo palermitano}}).
==Protected geographical status (PDO)== '''{{lang|it|Caciocavallo silano}}''' is made with cow's milk in designated areas of southern Italy, in the regions of Basilicata, Calabria, Campania, Molise and Apulia, and gained protected geographical status in 1993.<ref>{{cite web|title=Disciplinare di produzione della Denominazione di Origine Protetta "Caciocavallo silano"|url=http://www.sito.regione.campania.it/agricoltura/tipici/pdf/disciplinare-caciocavallo-silano.pdf|access-date=22 September 2011|language=it|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111004165208/http://www.sito.regione.campania.it/agricoltura/tipici/pdf/disciplinare-caciocavallo-silano.pdf|archive-date=4 October 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref>
==In other languages== {{langx|sq|kaçkavall}}{{spaces|1|hair}}; <br> {{langx|bs|kačkavalj}}{{spaces|1|hair}}; <br> Bulgarian: {{lang|bg|кашкавал}}, {{lang|bg|kashkaval}}{{spaces|1|hair}}; <br> {{langx|ro|cașcaval}}{{spaces|1|hair}}; <br> {{langx|sr|качкаваљ}}/{{lang|sr-Latn|kačkavalj}}{{spaces|1|hair}}; <br> {{langx|mk|кашкавал}}{{spaces|1|hair}}; <br> {{langx|scn|caciucavaddu}}{{spaces|1|hair}}; <br> {{langx|srd|casizolu, taedda, peretta, tittighedda}}{{spaces|1|hair}}; <br> {{langx|tr|kaşkaval}}{{spaces|1|hair}}/{{lang|tr|kaşar}}{{spaces|1|hair}}; <br> {{langx|he|קשקבל}}, {{lang|he-Latn|kashkaval}}{{spaces|1|hair}}; <br> {{langx|el|κασκαβάλι}}, {{lang|el-Latn|kaskavali}}{{spaces|1|hair}}, {{lang|el|κασέρι}}, {{lang|el-Latn|kaseri}}{{spaces|1|hair}}; <br> {{langx|ar|italic=no|قشقوان}}, {{lang|ar|kashkawane}}. <br> {{langx|ja|カチョカバロ}} {{lang|ja|kachokabaro}}.
Although the names are similar, each of these local speciality cheeses is different from both {{lang|it|caciocavallo silano}} and each other.
==See also== {{Portal|Italy|Food}} {{Commons category-inline}} * List of Italian cheeses * List of stretch-curd cheeses * {{lang|bg|Kashkaval}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Further reading== * {{cite journal |last=Cianflone |first=Eugenio |title=John Ray and Caciocavallo Cheese |journal=Notes and Queries |date=2013 |volume=60 |issue=1 |pages=84–85 |doi=10.1093/notesj/gjs219}}
{{Italian cheeses}}
Category:Ancient dishes Category:Cow's-milk cheeses Category:Sheep's-milk cheeses Category:Stretched-curd cheeses Category:Cheeses with designation of origin protected in the European Union Category:Italian products with protected designation of origin Category:Cuisine of Sicily Category:Cuisine of Calabria Category:Cuisine of Abruzzo