Castelmagno
Penicillium (optionally blue-veined cheese) · Cheese
Top 10 pairings
Castelmagno is a semi-hard, crumbly cow's-milk cheese from the high Grana and Stura valleys of Piedmont, in the far north-west of Italy, protected since 1996 with DOP (PDO) status. Its pressed white paste is sharp, salty and lactic when young, growing nutty, savoury and faintly bitter with age; older wheels develop a natural blue-green veining that lends a gentle piquancy. It is the classic Piedmontese table cheese — melted into risotto and gnocchi, and famously eaten with a drizzle of honey.
Picking a good onedrag
Crumbly, clean, true to its ageFuzzy, slimy or off-smelling
Wrapped wedgeEveryday bestEvery DOP wheel is raw milk. CDC: pregnant, 65+ or immunocompromised? Choose pasteurised, or heat it until steaming hot. No one else need avoid it.
Cut faceTrue colour, the cut face a shade duller and drier
Smell at the cutTrue to its age, a little flat where the wrap sat