Asiago
Cheese
Top 10 pairings
Asiago is an Italian cow's-milk cheese from the alpine plateau of the same name in the Veneto, made in two very different styles: a young, soft, mild Asiago pressato and a firm-to-hard, sharply savoury aged Asiago d'allevo. Both carry a Protected Designation of Origin and range from a fresh table cheese to a granular grating cheese.
Picking a good onedrag
Clean cut face, sweet or nuttySweating, cracked, rancid or mouldy
Well wrappedEveryday bestPressato sliced or melted, d'Allevo shaved or grated. Crunchy white specks in an old wedge are amino-acid or calcium lactate crystals, not mould.
Cut faceTrue colour, a thin darker, drier band just under the wrap edge
Paste under a thumbStiffer at the cut edge, the centre still true to its style
The rindDry and a little dull, the paste still tight against it
Smell at the cutTrue to style, only a little flat where the wrap sat