Taleggio
Bos taurus · Cheese
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Taleggio is a soft, washed-rind cow's-milk cheese from northern Italy, sold as a flat square brick with a thin, crusty pinkish-orange rind and a pale, supple, almost spreadable interior. The rind is washed with brine during ageing, which encourages a sticky orange bacterial smear and gives the cheese a frankly pungent, barnyard aroma — yet the paste itself tastes surprisingly mild and gentle, buttery and creamy with a light fruity tang and a faint salty bite. It melts cleanly and smoothly, which is why it is folded into risotto, draped over polenta and slipped into panini.
Picking a good onedrag
Compact paste, thin pink rindMould in the paste, ammonia that stays
RipeEveryday bestSupple and creamy, sweet in the paste. Raw milk on the label: pregnant, over 65, immunocompromised or a young child, eat it only cooked till steaming hot.
The cut faceSupple and creamy, softening in from the rind, still firmer toward the centre
Smell once unwrappedBarnyard at the rind, a faint mushroomy earthiness beneath