Today, with a simple click we can receive any product at home without problems, but in the past Italians had to do their best to savor the flavors of their land around the world. Thus was born Caciocavallo dell'Emigrante, an Cilento cheese which hides a tasty secret inside: the salami. This "cheese-salami" remains one of the great delicacies of southern Italy, a unique combination in which the delicacy of caciocavallo and the aroma of a specialty such as soppressata are combined.
A tasty deception to mock American customs
At the beginning of the twentieth century many Italians emigrated to the New Continent in search of opportunities. However, they ran into a problem: the introduction of strict hygiene rules and regulations which banned the import of pork. So they thought of hiding sausages and sopressata inside the caciocavallo, bypassing the border control systems. This ploy allowed emigrants to enjoy two iconic flavors in a single slice without being discovered.
The Caciocavallo dell'Emigrante, still produced today by the dairy Starace brothers in Vallo di Diano, is a semi-mature stretched curd cheese with a heart of sweet or spicy soppressata. Achille De Luca, known as "the man who whispers to caciocavalli", has been leading this tradition since 1975, inserting the cured meat into the heart of the stretched curd during stretching and giving shape to the product. The maturation varies from 60 days to 12 months, giving the caciocavallo a unique taste that combines the characteristic flavor of the cheese with the aroma of the cured meats.
The Caciocavallo dell'Emigrante is more than a simple "illegal culinary matryoshka". Perfect to enjoy alone as appetizer or during one tasting of cheeses, this cacio-salami is an invitation to those who love not only gastronomic products, but also the stories that lie behind them.
