Provolone Piccante Cheese Mandarone Cut & Wrapped by igourmet

To be frank, this is real provolone. Deli provolone never sees the love and attention that Luigi Guffanti shows his cheese. Aged for two to three years, each 44 lb mandarone (“large tangerine,” referring to the cannonball shape) of cheese is carefully inspected, brushed, and graded until it meets the high standards that the Guffanti family has been ensuring since 1876. With that in mind, don’t treat this like deli provolone. Shave it thin, serve it at room temperature, and break out a good bottle of red wine. Some nice prosciutto and salami wouldn’t be a bad idea, either. If you’ve been looking for a real, sharp provolone, this is your cheese.

When great-grandfather Luigi Guffanti, in 1876, began to age Gorgonzola cheese, his brilliant intuition was to purchase an abandoned silver mine in Valganna, in the Varese province. In the mine, with its temperature and humidity constant year-round, the cheese matured so well that Luigi quickly cornered the markets: his sons, Carlo and Mario, at the beginning of the 1900’s, exported as far as Argentina and California, lands of Piedmont and Lombard emigration. Maximum attention to the handcrafted quality of the cheeses and passionate care taken in the refinement process mark the proud Guffanti-Fiori family tradition that has been handed down for five generations.

• Made from pasteurized cow’s milk.
• Photo depicts 6 pound wedge of cheese cut from the 44 lb whole form of cheese.
• We cut and wrap this item by hand.