Introduction
The smoked Scamorza is a type of fresh cheese that is put on the market after only six days of maturation and its origins are southern, where it produces other types of very similar dairy product.
This food is known and appreciated throughout Italy, both smoked than in the natural version and is eaten either raw, or as an ingredient for the preparation of many delicious recipes.
The original regions of Scamorza in general are Abruzzo, Basilicata and Molise and the product can be found all over the Italian territory.
In Molise you can buy the small Scamorzas, made by small business owners who have the advantage of selling a fresh product of the day.
This spun pasta cheese is made by the use of cow’s milk or mixed, and we can consider it a product very similar to the mozzarella and Caciocavallo, although it is decidedly more dry to the palate and very tasty, contrary to the last product which is cited rich in water and very delicate.
The type of spun pasta, compare smoked scamorza to many other dairy products of the South, among them also the Provola, both sweet and spicy.
As for the birth of this food, there are many stories that are told, in fact there are those who declare that the smoked Scamorza was born to a simple mistake made during the preparation of provola or caciocavallo, given by a round curd gone bad, too sour.
The obtained product, was treated at a later time with boiling water, and from there was born the smoked cheese.
This is the most believable hypothesis, just think in fact, that the Molise smoked Scamorza for example, is obtained with the same processing and production of the Caciocavallo cheese, using the hot water in the process of spinning.
The smoked Scamorza unlike the Caciocavallo, does not require a significant period of maturation, and for this reason, in the summer in the production areas, when it was preferred to savor a fresh dairy product, it was produced the Scamorza, both natural and smoked in those places where the cheeses were made only to be aged for a long time, and were intended for the winter period.
Features
During the realization of smoked Scamorza process, it takes slightly warm fresh milk to then be added with rennet after several operations, and the paste made in contrast to the initial step, is processed with boiling water, to make so as to give the product typical stringy texture.
In this process, the Scamorza acquires its typical shape of a flask and in the following step, the cheese is immersed in salt water for a few hours.
After this step, the smoked Scamorza is drained and left to mature for two or three days.
During the smoking process, however, it was used in the old days, to make sure that the cheese was not attacked by any mold or bacteria.
In ancient times this process was done by hanging downwards The Scamorzas tied at the top, but the heat come true for smoking, it was to dissolve the thinnest part of the cheese, which in turn is ruined and fell to the ground.
Precisely for this reason, still today the smoked cheese has a particular shape, more rounded compared to the natural product and without the neck, which was used to hang it, but today are tied at the base with a ribbon which serves for hanging in the smoking room.
The main characteristics of a good product must have certain aspects that will now quote:
1. The Scamorza naturally comes with a very thin crust of colored alabaster bank
2. Pasta has a typical layered structure, milk white, smooth to very soft
3. The faint fragrance of dairy product, must have hints of straw
4. Full taste must remember the milk, and if the production was done by hand its flavor should be particularly present.
Methods of preservation
The smoked Scamorza, once purchased, it can be store still has not been opened, just upside down in a cool, dry place, but only for a few days, because the product is ready to be savored, and further aging could only damage, altering not only the aesthetic structure, but that the nutritional composition and flavor.
You can choose according to its consistency, if there is very soft, indicating a water-rich product, you need to consume in a few days, but if its consistency is very firm, not to be confused with dry, you can store some day ore, and period varies according to the purchased product, because they generally can be stored for a longer period in the case of an industrial Scamorza cheese.
